The Road We Take
by SeattleGirl359
Summary: A continuation of 'Alone' if the walker invasion of the funeral home never occurred. This is Daryl and Beth's story and what happens when two people are stuck together and feelings start to grow.
1. Chapter 1

_**This story has been bouncing around in my head for a few weeks (probably my way of distracting myself from finals week) and now I need to write it down.**_

_**Basically this is the story of what could have happened if that whole walker invasion of the funeral home never occurred. Because that was an evil thing to do to us Bethyl shippers. Seriously, it was heartbreaking.**_

_**But on a side note, I am not sure how many chapters this story is going to have. But there will be more to come so stay tuned! And I want to let you all know that it is rated M for the eventual smut and the Daryl Dixon language. POV is going to switch between Daryl and Beth, but it might not be every other chapter.**_

_**Also, I am completely aware that I have been cursed with the inability to keep my verb tenses the same. I don't know why it happens.**_

It was early morning and the air was warm as Beth stepped outside. A breeze blew the green trees and overgrown grass in all directions. Flowers of all colors decorated the funeral home property along with the ever persistent weeds. It was beautiful to her. The sunlight poured down onto the Earth and she momentarily forgot that there was so much horror currently going on in the world.

They had been staying at the funeral home for a couple of weeks and no one else had turned up. Beth was not sure if she actually believed other people would show up, and in all honesty she was not sure she really wanted them to anyways. Things had been different with Daryl lately. They had fallen into specific patterns with each other, taking care of each other. And Beth was beginning to like it being just the two of them. It sounded horrible considering that the rest of the people she considered her family where somewhere off in the unknown. But Beth contemplates it being just the two of them. She doesn't mind the thought of that.

That didn't mean they were not going to keep looking for the others. Beth knows deep in her heart that at least one of the others from the prison got out. Eventually they would find them and possibly others. She hopes to find her sister safe and with Glenn. She couldn't bear the thought of them being separated, or worse, one or both of the dead.

It's hard to think about but it is a reality in this world. Loved ones die and people are torn away in different directions from those they care about. It's a harsh world.

Beth is brought back to reality when she hears the door behind her shut. It spooks her a little and makes her jump. She turns around even though she knows who is going to be standing there.

"Best yet goin'," Daryl said in a low voice to her as he crossed the porch with his crossbow in his hand. He is dressed in the same attire he was when they got here, they both are. They only difference is that she ended up washing the dirt away on both their clothes.

Daryl and her had decided that it was time to move on from the funeral home. It was clear that no living soul was coming back to it. They were going to be running low on supplies soon and they figured that they would take what they could and set out on the road again. They were not entirely sure of where they were going next, only a general direction.

It is a bit scary to her. She doesn't know where they will end up or who they could possibly run into along the way. But she knows that she is with Daryl and he would protect her no matter what. He hadn't said those words to her specifically but he didn't have to. It's comforting knowledge for her.

Beth takes in a breath and lets it out. "Alright, let's go."

She grabs her bag off the porch in preparation for their journey. Inside it contains various items. She took out the not so useful things and replaced them with a first aid kit and food items like a few jars of peanut butter, jelly and fruit cans. The only thing she kept that was her own was her journal. She was debating whether she should take it with her. Then she realized that writing in it was helping to keep her sane.

Daryl waits for her to grab her bag and the walk down the steps of the funeral home together. Beth doesn't glance back at the shelter they were leaving behind. It was for the best, she reminded herself. She remembered Daryl previously saying he wanted to get farther away from where the prison was and the herd of walkers that had been attracted to the noise of the explosions. Walkers had been showing up more frequently around the funeral home and surrounding woods more recently. Daryl said they made good target practice for her. Beth could also tell that it made him more on edge with having to kill numerous walkers when she was around. He didn't want to take the risk of sticking around to become walker food.

They step out onto the dirt road that passes by the funeral home. Neither one of them knows where it is headed. It's not a major road so they don't anticipate coming across many walkers. In fact, it didn't look like anyone had put tracks into the road.

They walked in silence for a while. Beth was used to it by now. Daryl wasn't much of a talker, although he had been engaging in conversation with her more lately. The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. During this time Beth often pondered what was going on inside Daryl's head.

They make it pretty far before Beth interjects the silence. "What are you thinking about?"

Daryl turns towards her and shrugs. "You, mostly." She could have sworn her heart stopped until he further elaborated his thought. "We should do more tracking lessons. Haven't had one in a number of days. I don't want you to lose the skills."

This was true. While at the funeral home Daryl had been teaching her a lot. And a lot was an understatement. Daryl gave her so much information that she thought her head might explode in the process. She would sometimes forget or get confused with what he had told her, but he never gave up on her. And truth be told, she had gotten pretty damn good at tracking. She could now easily interpret different types of tracks, especially walkers. That was Daryl's foremost concern for her to learn.

Beth adjusted her backpack so that it was more balanced on her shoulders. "I won't lose them. They are all stored in my head," she defended. "I even recite them when I got nothin' else to do."

"I know, I hear you talkin' to yourself all the time."

Beth laughs. "It's not talkin' to myself."

Daryl snorts and continues to argue with her. "Is too. What else would you call it?"

Beth thinks for a minute. When she can't come up with a good alternative she sighs. "Alright, maybe I do talk to myself. But if you didn't give me so much to remember then I wouldn't need to. You know, no one like a teacher who gives a lot of homework."

"This ain't school," Daryl clarifies.

Beth chuckles to herself. She imagines what Daryl would have been like as an actual teacher. It's kind of a scary thought.

They go on like this in a playful banter until they had been walking for hours. The sun was now dipping over the horizon, giving the sky an orange tint to it. It was a nice contrast against the green of the trees.

Her foot had healed by now so walking was no longer an issue. That she was happy about. Hobbling around the funeral home was not very pleasing for her. Only when Daryl had picked her up to transport her to the kitchen table many days ago had she enjoyed the injury. But still, her legs were growing tired and she was running out of steam to continue.

Before she can tell this to Daryl he speaks up. "Gettin' late. We should go into the woods and find a place for the night."

Beth is relieved. "Sounds good to me."

Daryl goes in front as they step into the heavily wooded tree line and away from the dirt road. "Stay close," he tells her, signaling for her to follow behind him.

She takes out her knife and cautiously follows his footsteps. As far as she can tell there are no walkers around. However, the way Daryl is remaining vigilant tells her otherwise. She searches for the normal signals a walker has come through the area but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Daryl walks over to a tree a few feet from them and inspects it. She doesn't know what he is looking for but she doesn't want to speak and ruin his concentration or risk a nearby walker hearing her. In times like this she always waits for Daryl to give the sign that it's all clear. He turns back to her. "Come over here. See this?" She hesitates for a moment, unsure of what she is supposed to be looking for. "Come on, girl, get over here. You're gettin' a quick lesson."

As silently as she can manage, she walks over to where Daryl stood and examined what he was pointing at. At first she doesn't see it until she is right in front. A bullet had been lodged into the rough bark of the tree. "Someone's been here. And seeing there's no walker bodies around, my guess it whoever was here was shooting at another living person."

"Think they're still around?"

Daryl glances at the ground. "No, this happened a few days ago. Whoever it was is long gone by now."

"How do you know it was a few days ago?" Beth's curiosity always gets the best of her. And she usually ends up asking an abundance of questions. Lucky for her, Daryl always feels compelled to answer her. She sometimes wonders if she gets on his nerves.

He glances at the ground, using his crossbow to point at the surrounding vegetation. "Plants are disturbed like someone's walked through here but not pressed down like it was recent."

Beth is disappointed she hadn't realized that herself. She had been so focused on looking for the drag marks in the dirt she had missed the other signs. Daryl must have seen that. "Don't worry, you'll get there eventually."

_Eventually,_ she reminds herself.

They move through the woods for about another hour until Daryl finds a spot that he thinks is the safest for them. They drop their gear onto a small clearing where they are surrounded by trees. Beth drops to the ground and lies down on her back. It felt amazing to finally rest her legs after being on the road all day.

Daryl makes a fire and they settle in for the night. Beth grabs her backpack and takes out their water and tosses Daryl a jar of jelly. She doesn't know why he likes it so much. He smirks when she gets up and hands him some of the spoons she took before leaving. She remembers how grossed out she was when they had first arrived at the funeral home and Daryl had dug his fingers into the jelly jar to eat. Honestly, she brought the spoons because she wanted to see the current look on his face.

Later that evening Beth comes to a realization. "I never told you thank you,' she starts. Daryl looks up at her curiously with his eyebrows furrowed, not knowing what she was meaning. "You know, for keepin' me alive and all."

Daryl takes a moment and mumbles, "Did that yourself."

She rolls her eyes at him. It is amazing to her that he can so blatantly write off her survival as being solely done by her. "We both know that's not the truth." Daryl gives her a look but she is not about to let this go. "I'm alive because of _you. _And I want you to know that I'm grateful for that. You've practically been my bodyguard this whole time."

Daryl shifts in his spot uncomfortably. Beth feels the need to keep going, though, she need to get this off her chest and she needs Daryl to know.

"I meant what I said back at that cabin," she begins with. The memories all come flooding back about that day, good and bad. That was the point their relationship took a turn. "I _will_ be gone someday. So I need to tell you now that I'm glad I ended up with you after what happened back at the prison. I'd be dead by now if I was alone. I'm glad I got out with you."

She means every word that she spoke.

Daryl is still looking directly at her when she is finished. She thinks that this is the longest he has ever held eye contact with her. The sudden gaze makes her self-conscious. He is completely silent and sat still in his spot across from her. All she can hear is the fire crackling in front of her, the flames flickering, lighting up his face. She can see that by the look on his face that he is slightly distressed by her words. After all, she was talking about her inevitable death.

Beth decides she needs to lighten the mood.

"Daryl Dixon, I'm so gonna haunt you when I'm dead." She says it nonchalantly but cannot keep her poker face. She lights up into a wide smile and lets a small laugh out. "You think I'm annoyin' now, well just you wait till I'm a ghost."

A smile starts to form across Daryl's lips as he shakes his head. "Girl, you ain't that annoyin'. And you ain't goin' nowhere so stopped thinkin' that. I'd never let that happen."

The way he says it makes her wonder if he in fact actually believed that.

Beth tilted her head back against the log that she was sitting up against. Her eyes turned towards the sky. The beautiful day turned into a beautiful night. The temperature had dropped into what she was assuming was the low sixties. There was still a soft breeze in the air that made goose bumps rise up on her arms. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon was shining bright. This was a good thing because it enabled them to see if walkers were coming more easily.

Beth brought her head back up to rest on the top of her knees. She wrapped her hands around her legs, bringing them in closer to her torso in order conserve heat. She stays like that for a while until the chill of the night creeps up and settles into her skin. All she wants is to be warm. She glances over at Daryl and he looks to be content at the moment, staring off into the wooded area. Beth bites her lip, unsure of how Daryl was going to take her next move.

She gets up before she loses her nerve. Quickly making her way around the fire and over to Daryl, she sits down next to him. "I'm so cold," she complains, letting him know the reason of her approaching him.

Daryl tenses up when she hooks her hands around his arm. For a second she fears that he will pull away and give her some false excuse as to how he needs to be somewhere else. Her fear becomes greater when he pulls his hand away. Only a moment later is she surprised when he puts his arm around her and resting it on her shoulder to bring her closer. "Don't need you freezin' to death," he explains, still staring at the fire. "I'd feel shitty if that happened and I just told you that you ain't gonna die."

Beth smiles and rests her head against his chest. It's a risk doing this, and she knows it. She can feel the slight hesitation coming from Daryl but it eases up.

She finds that the more she pushes him into this type of interaction the more comfortable he becomes with her. It all started out with holding his hand in the cemetery weeks ago. That was what got the bowl rolling. They talked more, getting closer and allowing their friendship onto a deeper level. Daryl would sit next to her at dinner and Beth would talk a lot and for most of the conversation. Occasionally she would touch his shoulder or 'accidentally' bump into him. It was her way of trying to acclimate him to her constant presence.

They watch the fire together for some time, no words spoken between them. Beth hopes that she hasn't made Daryl overly uncomfortable by invading his space. She knows how he can be when it comes to human contact. She remains careful not to press too much of the side of her body into him, but it hard to do. He is so warm. Beth is jealous of the heat that radiates off his skin, however she is appreciative. It only takes a few minutes for her to warm up as well.

Something stirs inside of her right then. It's a strange feeling and one that she has never felt before. She has tried to put it off before but it always surfaces at a later time. She knows it is because of Daryl. Something about being this close to him, having his strong arm around her and keeping her safe that makes her feel like she is floating on a cloud. It is a wonderful feeling that spreads throughout her like wildfire. It engulfs her like a raging storm.

Her feelings for him are growing, she knows that. Only now does she allow herself to become aware of her heart's desires.

"Get some sleep," Daryl tells her. "I'll keep watch tonight."

Beth would like to resist sleep but it is calling her. "Wake me up in a few hours."

Beth closed her eyes and gave up on fighting away sleep. She smiled to herself, thinking that she was going to fall asleep in Daryl Dixon's arms. She doesn't think many people can say that. A ting of jealously pop ups in her but she dismisses it out of exhaustion.

"Sure." The way Daryl says it leads her to believe that he doesn't have any intention of waking her up. But before she knows it she slips into unconsciousness before she can debate it with him.

_**A/N: I did my best to incorporate the southern accent in. But there is only so many red lines underlining words I can take on my word doc before it drives me mad :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

Beth awoke as the sun was rising over the horizon. It was still somewhat dark, yet the brightness of the sun was enough to wake her up. Her eyelids fluttered open and then shut again. She could already tell that her legs were going to feel sore today from the feeling of stiffness that they were giving her. She was in the same place she fell asleep and he head still rested on Daryl's chest. She stayed motionless in her position, feeling Daryl's chest rise and fall as he breathed. This was nice. She wished she could fall asleep like this every night.

But that was a wish Daryl probably didn't want like she did. At least not yet.

Beth takes a deep breath in, inhaling the cool morning air just as she did when they first left the funeral home. She twists her head upwards and sees Daryl staring back down at her. "Mornin'," he says to her.

Beth stirred in her spot. Her neck is kind of sore from being crooked all night, too. She didn't want to get up but knew that it was inevitable. They would need to get moving soon now that it was light out.

"You never woke me up," she accuses him. "I told you to."

"You needed to rest more than I did. I'm used to not sleepin'. Back at the prison, you know. I'd be up all night on watch and then on runs in the mornin'. Don't really bother me anymore," he explains.

Beth looks up at him, her head still resting on his chest. She analyzes him with narrowed eyes to see if he is telling the truth about the lack of sleep not bothering him. The circles under his eyes aren't set in very deep and he doesn't seem to be sleepy.

"You're one of the most selfless people I have ever known."

She hadn't planned on saying that. It slipped out, really. Daryl looks her in the eyes for a beat before dropping his gaze. After that he removes his arm from her and gets up. "You must not know a lot of people. I—"

"It's true," she interrupts. She is not about to let him talk his way out of this one. "I know _you_. This whole time I've been with you, all you've done is help me and make sure that I'm alright. That I'm safe. And back at the prison you helped everyone. Kept watch, went on dozens of runs, and helped feed all the people. Whether you want to admit it or not, you're a good person."

Daryl adjusts his jacket, the one with the angel wings on the back. Beth loves the way it looks on him.

"You wouldn't be sayin' that if you knew me before all this happened."

Beth sits up better so her back it straight. She doesn't like it when Daryl reminisces about the past. She knows it was nothing but pain for him, even when he was drifting with Merle. He was never really happy.

"You already told me about that. And I don't think it matters who you _used_ to be. It only matters who you are _now_." Beth gets up off the chilled ground and moves over towards Daryl. He still isn't looking at her. "And if what you told me is true, then you should be damn proud of the man you are today…my daddy…he thought you were a good man, Daryl. A great man, actually. He told me that." She hesitates between her words. "I think that you're a great man, too."

Only then does he look back at her. His face is calm and his eyes are soft. She can tell that he doesn't know what to say to her and that she has made him somewhat uncomfortable by telling him what she had. He doesn't need to say anything to her; all she wanted was for him to hear that. He needed to hear that.

Beth decides it is best to neutralize the situation. "Come on, we should get going. Another long day today."

She says it in a hurry, followed by her grabbing up her things and stuffing them back into her backpack. It takes a few seconds for Daryl to pick up his crossbow and insure that the fire was out.

This time it is Beth who begins to lead the way out of the woods and Daryl is trailing closely behind.

They continue on like this for a few days. Travelling during the daylight and making camp within the trees for night. It was too dangerous to travel during the darkness. Walkers could sneak up more easily and an escape would be harder to figure out in the pitch black.

They eventually come to a fork in the road.

"Take your pick," Daryl says, not particularly leaning towards taking either road.

Beth moves her mouth from side to side, trying to figure out which way is best. She wishes she had a coin to flip to make the decision for her. "Hmm, how about left one?"

There is a beat before she questions herself. "No, wait! The right one."

Her indecisiveness causes Daryl to let out a deep sigh. "Which one? Right or left? Won't matter much either way."

"It could!" she defends. "What if one way leads to death and the other—"

"Beth, you ain't got a crystal ball to predict the future. No way to know what is down the roads. You just gotta pick one."

She throws her hands in the hair. "And just hope for the best?"

It's absurd. What if she was the one leading them into some sort of death trap. What if she picked the wrong one and they ended up someplace horrible or into a massive herd of walkers that would eat them alive? The possibilities were endless.

"Wouldn't kill you to have a little faith, now would it?"

Beth rolls her eyes at the same phrase she had used on Daryl when they had first escaped from the prison.

"Alright, Alright." She looks at the fork in the road one last time. "The left one."

"Are you sure?"

Now he's messing with her.

"Yes!" she laughs out. "Now let's go before I change my mind again."

So that is the way they go. And once again, they go for miles, at least she thinks it is miles. There is no way for them to actually tell the distance. The venture back into the woods when they see a group of walkers, about ten of them all together, in their path. It's nothing that they couldn't handle but Daryl thought it was best to avoid them and before they heard them. Beth never argues with him. He knows what he is doing. She trusts him entirely.

They get tired after a while. They had continued walking through the woods after evading the walkers on the road. By some miracle they somehow end up stumbling upon another cabin in the woods. Beth is the first one to see it when it comes into view. It's different from the other one. This one she thinks was maybe a vacation home for a family of some sorts. It was two stories and made of tree logs. It had been well kept other than the overgrowth surrounding the property. I didn't look like anyone had disturbed it in some time. No windows were broken which was a good thing. That meant better protection and hopefully resources were still inside.

Beth thinks the place is beautiful. Whoever got to live or spend any amount of time here was very lucky. She wouldn't have minded it. She loved the farm, but this was something else. The seclusion of it amongst the trees made it peaceful.

Daryl strides alongside of her and comes to a stop. "Let's go check it out."

Daryl has his crossbow ready and Beth has her knife in hand. The door is locked so he has to kick it in. Beth feels the stirring in the pit of her stomach when he does. He looked so_ good_ doing it, so strong. In that moment all she wanted to do was to reach out and touch Daryl's biceps.

She focuses back on the task at hand: not becoming lunch.

The interior was dark due to the lack to lighting and all of the windows had navy blue curtains draped across them. A lot of the cabin was made of wood, the floors, ceiling, beams that stood tall throughout the house. Overall, it has a comfy feel to it apart from all the dust lingering on the surfaces.

They make it inside without a problem. From what she can see, no people or walkers have been here in a long, long time.

"Stay here," Daryl instructs as he goes to search the rest of the rooms. To be honest, she gets a bit nervous when he goes off on his own. She knows he can handle whatever might be lurking around a corner, but things happen. And walkers can come out of nowhere and bite a nice chunk of skin out. She shivers at the fact that there is a possibility it can happen.

Beth wanders into the kitchen after Daryl vanishes up the stairs. It's a nice kitchen with light wood cabinets and an island in the middle with five stools around it. She starts pulling cabinets open, the first one being full of plates and glass. The next one over it stocked with food. She almost can't believe it. It's filled with jars of canned fruits and vegetables, garbanzo beans, white rice, pasta and peanut butter. She can't believe their good fortune of finding this place. Of course there are some things that would no longer be edible so she takes them out and sets them aside.

Before she knows it, Daryl is a few feet away from her. He had a habit of staying in a stealth mode. "It's all clear in here." He points to a pile of plywood in the corner that she had not noticed. "Someone must have been getting ready to stay out here when this all went down. Must've never gotten the chance to finish what they started."

Beth falls silent. That meant that they were dead. She silently thanks the owners of the cabin in her head for their new shelter. At least it didn't have to go to waste.

She looks up at Daryl, about to tell him about their good luck with finding so much food, but gets distracted. Daryl is sweaty and handsomely rugged and Beth doesn't know why she never saw it back in the prison. She can't handle it. She is staring. It's as if she couldn't tear her eyes away if she wanted to.

He notices, shifting in his place where he stood and setting his crossbow down on the kitchen island. Beth drops her stare, panicked, and feeling heat start to form on her checks. He had caught her. She quickly reaches up into the cabinet and takes the first two jars in front. "Look. There's plenty of food here. Enough for weeks if we need it."

"Good. We'll hold up here for a while."

Beth is still embarrassed from being caught admiring Daryl. The more she thinks about it, the redder she can feel her check getting.

"I'm gonna go look around and see what else I can find."

She makes a hasty exit out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the stairs. She goes into the first room available, which happens to be a bedroom. She doesn't know why she is surprised that there is a bed in there. She hasn't slept in a real one since the prison. And that didn't really count considering it wasn't the softest.

The glimmer of a silver picture frame catches her eye. She crosses over to a side table that it sat on and picks it up. It was of two children, probably no more than twelve years old. Beth grieves for the people she never met and puts the frame down so that it is facing onto the table. She doesn't want any reminders of the dead hanging around. And she doesn't want to feel guilty for being in their house.

Beth moves away from the picture and opens up the closet that is on the far wall. There's not too much in there but she thinks some of it can fit her. She finds a couple pairs of jeans and a new short sleeved black top. It'll be a little loose but that won't bother her.

As she pushes the clothes around on the hangers, she comes across something she would have worn back at the farm. It was a knee length white sun dress. Beth ran her fingers over the lace trim. It was the softest material she had felt in years. Looking up at the top of the shelf, there was an array of hats. Some of them being quite strange looking with feathers and ornate jewels sown in. Beth is curious if whoever these belonged to ever wore this in public.

There is a white hat in the back that catches her eye. She has to get on her toes to reach it and practically pulls an arm muscle in the process. She is able to grab ahold of the edge and pull it forward. In the process she clumsily drags down some other hats and they hit her in the head. She doesn't mind, though. This particular sun hat was worth it. It was solid white with a bow on the side, matching the dress. Beth guesses the owner probably wore them together.

She tears off her clothes and throws them into a pile. She would need to wash them again due to the dirt and grass stains. It felt refreshing to have on clean clothes. The dress was light and didn't constrict her skin. Her flesh could finally breathe.

She rummages through other drawers in a dresser and finds a few books that look like they might be interesting. Beth tosses the murder mystery one off to the side; she had enough death in her life without having to read about it too. She comes across a few more family pictures which she promptly tucks away. There isn't much useful in the dresser. She sees a pair of oversized sunglasses and takes them out. She smirks thinking that she could give Daryl a mini fashion show.

What a weird thought.

She does it anyways, because she doesn't have anything better to do. She exits the bedroom and pulls her hair out of her ponytail, taking the braid out in the process. She shakes her hair out and puts the sunhat on her head in the correct placement. Heading down the steps she wonders if maybe this would peak Daryl's interest. It's another silly thought. A man like Daryl would never take interest in a farm girl like herself. He probably saw her as an innocent little girl. Truth be told, it was partially true. But she's not that little anymore. And that innocence seemed to be draining away as time when on.

Beth takes the steps all the way down into the living room where she finds Daryl. He looks up immediately upon her entrance. Once she hits the bottom step, she twirls around and puts the sunglasses on. "Well? Do I look like a movie star?" she jokes.

Daryl seems to be speechless for a moment. She can feel her face heating up again and thinks that maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she should try to act normal and not go out of her way like this. Beth's breath hitches and her stomach turns upside down until he says something. "All you need is a red convertible and you woulda had me fooled. Where in the hell did you find that getup?"

_Damn it_, she thinks to herself. Why did she have to be so self-conscious around him all of a sudden? He could probably see the nervousness she was emitting.

"Upstairs." Beth takes of the hat and the sunglasses and tosses them onto a nearby couch. "I thought it would be fun to wear."

She can feel Daryl's eyes follow her as she moves about. It only makes her feel more self-conscious and nervous. She ends up bumping into things because her brain isn't focusing on coordination. It makes her feel stupid. Only until Daryl turns his back can she breathe easy again.

—

"These couches are so comfy. I don't think I'm going to move for days," Beth exclaims.

She recovered from her embarrassment earlier by throwing herself into a heap of decorative pillows and burying her face until she could no longer feel the red in her cheeks. She has been lying on the tan couch engulfed by pillows for hours now. It is doing wonders for her. Relaxation set in and she feels her mind distressing.

It's a luxury she hasn't had in months.

Daryl is headed in towards her from the kitchen. He's got a jar of peanut butter in hand along with a spoon he's been using. She holds back a smile. It's adorable that he listens to her when she says it's not sanitary to eat with your fingers. But then again, cleanliness wasn't the top priority nowadays

"We should do something," Beth says out of boredom. The time felt like it was dragging. It was already dark out but Beth wasn't tired yet.

"Don't be tellin' me you want to play that 'I never' game again."

Daryl's voice is full of sarcasm so she tilts her head to the side. "No. It didn't have such a great outcome the first time."

Daryl rubs his chin. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be. It was my fault. I had just…assumed…and it was stupid of me. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Beth watches as Daryl stands in the middle of the floor. He looks like he isn't sure what to do. But he does look exhausted. She remembers that he hasn't slept in almost two days now.

"You need to sleep," she offers. "I'll stay up. It's your turn to get some rest."

Daryl glances around, analyzing the cabin. "I think this place it safe enough for the both of us to sleep."

She is surprised by that. Not once had they both been asleep at the same time, partially out of paranoia that walkers would find them and they wouldn't hear until it was too late. "You think?"

"Ain't no walkers gettin' in to here. Too secure."

"Well, alright, only if you think so. I'm gonna stay up and write a bit. Go sleep." Beth reaches for her journal that is in her bag. She needs to get some thoughts down on paper before she goes to bed. Daryl is still standing around and looking at the door when she gets it out and pulls the pages open to a fresh one. "Go to sleep," she tells him again.

Daryl grunts and shuffles to the couch adjacent from the one she was currently on. She knows better than to argue with him to go to one of the upstairs bedrooms. They had always been in close proximity to each other when sleeping since they escaped the prison. She didn't expect that to change.

Beth writes about Daryl in her journal. She writes about how he is such an amazing person for putting up with her for so long. She wants to write about how she is thinking about him a lot more lately and she can't stop the thoughts but she is too paranoid that he could end up reading it that she doesn't. Instead she writes about how she hopes that they can stay in this cabin for as long as they can no walkers find them.

It might be wishful thinking but that doesn't stop her. She's not going to give up hope.

After some time goes by, she begins to feel the dreariness in her eyes. She closes up her journal and places back in its spot in her bag. Beth dares to peer over the couch to see Daryl. He looks peaceful in his sleep. She watches him slowly breathe in and out. She captures the picture in her head before sinking back into the couch for a much needed rest.

_**A/N: Thanks so much for reading!** **I hope you are enjoying the story. **_


	3. Chapter 3

Daryl woke up to the glow of morning that was streaming through the curtains. He would need to fix that. The plywood and tools were all ready for him to nail into the windows, he just had to get up and do it. Truthfully, he should have done that last night but his muscles were sore and he craved sleep too much to bother with them.

He turns over so see if Beth was still asleep. He wouldn't want to start hammering away if she was still dreaming. She wasn't because he could see her eyes flutter open and closed. She must have just woken up as well.

She is still in that white dress she found. When she came down those steps last night Daryl had thought he was looking at an angel. He had been frozen in place at the sight of her, speechless. And something like that didn't happen often. It was unusual for him to be stunned by someone. Actually, never in his life had that ever happened. The women he was used to looking at were the opposite of Beth. Nonetheless, she looked perfect, as always. Her and her fucking perfect body, perfect face, perfect blonde hair, and perfect clear blue eyes.

There have been many occasions where he had to remind himself that she was only eighteen.

_Eighteen._

Just barely an adult.

Yet, his thoughts would wander to places that they shouldn't. Even back at the prison his mind had gone there on multiple occasions. He kept his distance there, stealing glances once in a while. Now that he was with her constantly it made it harder to force the thoughts away. They lingered around in his head. And for being twice her age, he knew he couldn't afford to think about her or entertain any suggestive thoughts.

But that didn't mean he was able to push them all away. They found a way to persist in his mind. Sometimes she would pop up in his dreams during the night, and those dreams were definitely not always innocent ones. And sometimes he would let the image of her underneath him invade his mind when he was keeping watch during the night and there was nothing else to do. It's not like it could do any real harm. At least that's what he thinks.

Beth swings her legs over the couch she had been on all night. She looks over at him and smiles before yawning. He likes it a lot when she does that. She smiles for no reason at all. She looks so happy and sometimes he wonders how she can remain so radiant in the world they were now living in. It was full of death and decay, yet she found a way to remain happy most days. She found joy and the beauty in life. Then she somehow passed that onto him. Her being in his life made him more content to be alive.

As a distraction, he rises from his sleeping spot and walks over to the windows to assess them. They seem to be stable with latches on both sides that locked out intruders, dead or alive. He gets to work putting up the plywood as Beth watches him, relaying a dream she had in her sleep to him. When she's done, she takes out her journal and begins humming a tone that he had never heard before.

Her singing had a tendency to calm him. Her voice was so soothing. Back at the funeral home he had asked her numerous times to sing at the piano at night. It relaxed him before drifting off to sleep.

He finishes all of the downstairs windows within a half hour. It feels strange to be in a home again. He hadn't been in a real home since the farm and even there he didn't spend too much time in the house. There were a lot of people in the house at one time. Too many people for his liking. He didn't like being in the way of people.

The funeral home didn't really count either, considering there where coffins hanging around all the time and embalming equipment in the basement. That had been a real nice surprise to see that mess. He doesn't know how people did that for an income. They had to spend hours with dead bodies trying to make them look presentable. Like they were fucking presents or something. Displaying dead people for the family members to cry over sounded like a cruel punishment.

Daryl hears Beth drift into the kitchen and pull open the cabinets. When he sees her she has a puzzled look on her face and it looks like her mouth is moving.

_Her mouth. _Shit, he would really like to know how it felt against his.

Daryl slouches against a beam. Why the fuck did he have to keep thinking this way?

"Don't tell me you're over there talkin' to yourself again?"

Part of him likes to press her buttons and gently tease her. It has become a thing that they do with each other.

She swings her head, keeping her body in place. She taps her fingers across the cabinet. "I'm trying to figure out how many weeks worth of food this is, if that's okay with you. Maybe you should stop watching me when I talk to myself if it bothers you so much."

"Doesn't bother me," he explains.

He finds it amusing and endearing at the same time, but he would never tell her that. Not in a million years.

"Good. Just like it doesn't bother me when you snore."

"I don't snore."

Beth snickers. She moves her hand from the cabinet handle to her hip. "How would you know? You're not awake when it happens! I'm the one who has to listen to you. But like I said, it doesn't bother me. Maggie used to do it all the time when we were younger and sharing a room. I'm used to it but now. Besides, I think you snoring quite adorable."

Daryl shakes his head, ignoring her last comment. What the hell was he going to do with her? Well, what he _wanted _to do right then was to shove her against the wall and push himself into her until she moaned his name.

_Damn it._

That was a scenario that needed to stay inside his head.

There's a moment where she is staring at him, smiling to the point where the edges of her eyes crinkle up, and he is staring back at her. He wants to avert his eyes but they stay on her. Beth and her stupid gorgeous smile and her gorgeous face that lights up like a Christmas tree.

Something about it feels right to him, like this is how things were supposed to be all along, the two of them that is. For a second it feels like there is fluttering in his stomach and it startles him. He has never had that feeling before.

She is too good for him. He knows that.

Daryl picks up his crossbow from the kitchen countertop. "I'm gonna hunt some. I'll try and get us some meat."

That's all he said before stepping out the door. He needed to get away. He needed to escape into the woods where he felt most at home. However, lately Beth was feeling more and more like his home.

He clenches his teeth. There he goes again with the thoughts.

It was never-ending.

...

Daryl ends up with three rabbits when hunting. He had been out for several hours, staying close to the cabin. He didn't want to stray too far in case something happened and he needed to get to Beth. He wasn't anticipating anything occurring, but hey, shit happens.

The air started to feel different as dark clouds rolled in from the east. Daryl notices the tree leaves are being blown around in odd directions. The wind picks up violently and out of nowhere the sky opens up. It's just his luck. Pouring rain comes down fearlessly, soaking him with a half a minute. He is completely drenched by that point. It sounds stupid in his head but all he wants to do is get back to Beth. So he quickens his pace, knowing that he is only minutes away from where the cabin and Beth are.

The ground slips out from underneath him, his feet skidding out due to the mud collecting on the ground. He falls onto something sharp and he knows what it is instantly before even looking at it. It was the remnants of an animal trap, one that had probably been there for several forgotten years. The sharp metal digs into the skin of his side and he can immediately smell blood. In a swift movement, he pulls himself up and off the pointy metal that pierced his skin. "Fucking hell," he spits out. Pain shoots through his side an entire abdominal region. He takes a breath and carefully bends down to snatch up his crossbow that he had dropped next to him during the ordeal.

He bends his head to examine the fresh wound and it doesn't look good. Something that would definitely need stitches. He goes to take his hand away but more red blood comes gushing out so he puts his hand back over the cut in an attempt to stop some of the bleeding. He was not in the mood to faint because of blood loss. That's all he would need.

The storm came out of nowhere. Beth was worried about Daryl. He wasn't back yet even though it had been hours since he left her and she was pacing in the living room waiting to hear him come through the front door. She had started a fire while he was gone. She wasn't supposed to leave the safety of the cabin but she hadn't traveled away from the perimeter. Luckily she had moved what wood and small sticks that she could find inside so they would be dry.

She hears the door open and is relieved to see Daryl walking through it. He is soaked from head to toe and drops begin to puddle around the doorway as he closes the door behind him. She can see that the water droplets aren't all clear. Some look to be a darker color. It's not until she sees his face that she realizes that something is wrong. His face is twisted in a way that makes it look like he is in pain. Her eyes then go to where his hand is clutching at his right side. Her eyes go wide.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Damn animal trap happened," he explains not very specifically as he sets his cross bow down near the door along with what looks to be rabbits. "Ouch."

She rushes over to him and peels his hand away to inspect the damage. _Oh God._ There were pieces still inside his skin, sticking out around the bloody mess. A spike of adrenaline courses through her that instant. Perhaps it comes out of fear. She is going to have to get the mangled metal pieces out and stitch him up right away. It's something she has never done. She has only ever watched her father stitch animals if they had gotten caught on barbed wire around the farm or if someone had brought an injured animal to the farmhouse.

"I'll be right back. Keep the pressure on!"

Beth rushes down the hall that was off the side of the kitchen. She flings open the bathroom door and goes rummaging through the room looking for something, anything that would help. She prays that she will find exactly what is needed. Never in her life would she have thought she would be so elated to find a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the bottom cabinet under the sink. She goes through the attached drawers that are to the left and finds a better first aid kit than what she has in her bag. Most of the necessary equipment to stitch Daryl's wound is in it. A sigh of relief comes when she sees her prayers are answered.

She throws her hair up in a messy ponytail so that it doesn't get in the way. She takes the alcohol, needle, and thread and carefully lays them down onto the counter. She runs back out into the living room where she left Daryl, only to find him having wandered over into the kitchen. He has one hand that is covered in blood still around his side and the other is holding a bottle of liquor.

"Look what I found," he smugly says before taking a long drink from it.

She goes over and snatches the bottle from his hands. "Later," she tells him. "I need to get up stitched up before an infection sets in."

She drags him back into the bathroom. "Take off your shirt." She takes the embroidered white towels that were hanging on a towel rack off and sets them onto the counter next to her supplies. When Daryl still has his shirt on, hand clutching his injury, she loses her cool. "Come on, come, I don't have all day."

Daryl pauses and leans his back up against the countertop that held the sink. "I'll be fine. Let me do it."

Let him do it? Beth feels like she's going to scream. He was so stubborn like this. It could annoy her to no end sometimes. She closes her eyes in the attempt to either calm herself down from internally combusting or to hold back a sea of oncoming tears that were developing out of extreme frustration. She isn't sure which one is the real reason. Perhaps they could both occur simultaneously.

"_Please. _Just do what I say."

It was a plea.

There is a moment of silence between them. She's waiting for his counterargument but it never comes. He slides his vest off his shoulders and begins to unbutton his shirt. Beth goes to help him because he is taking too long and the longer he takes the more anxious she gets. She cannot afford to mess up these stitches.

Her fingers brush over his and he lets her undo the buttons until she gets to the last one. She pushes the shirt off his shoulders so he doesn't have to endure the pain of twisting his body to do so. She purposefully sneaks in a brushing of the muscles along his upper arm as she takes of the shirt. She couldn't help herself, even in this situation.

Beth reaches around him to get the bottle of alcohol she needs to clean out the wound. She puts her hand onto Daryl's bare abdomen so that it is placed to the side of the bleeding wound. She tries hard not to think about how it feels against her fingers. "Stay as still as possible."

She puts her fingers around the metal piece that is jutting out of Daryl's side. Now that she is closer and has a good view she can see that there is three pieces stuck in him. It's not too bad, but a number of stitches are going to be needed. The blood is what makes it look terrible. Beth is really glad that she is not queasy when it comes to things like this. She'd be so screwed if she were one of those people who lost consciousness at the sight of blood.

Beth holds her breath and pulls of the metal with her two fingers. Daryl grips the back of the countertop, making muffled painful sounds. She pulls out the other two and drops them into the sink. With the bottle of alcohol in hand, and holding the towel by his side to catch the falling alcohol, she pours it on without warning. She cringes and Daryl's muscles tense up. The sting must be unbearable.

With hast she puts a clean towel over top and cleans around the cuts, then adding water on to rid the cut of any remaining alcohol. She hesitates when she picks up the needle and thread. She needs to do this but not one part of her wants to. She doesn't want to hurt him and is afraid that she is going to mess up. Her inexperience with surgical procedures is weighing on her and makes her doubt herself.

"Go on," Daryl encourages her. "I trust you."

Beth shakes her head. If he thought that she could do this than maybe she could. Just to be safe she prays again, only this time that her father is watching over her and will help guide her with this. She doesn't want to hurt him by putting him in anymore pain than he already is. But here she was having to stick him with a sharp needle. Fantastic.

_Here goes nothing._

Beth wishes there could have been better lighting for this and regrets not moving Daryl out into the living room where the fire provided more adequate light. There's not much she can do about it now. The needle has already pierced through his skin and she pulls the thread through. She hopes Daryl isn't expecting to have straight stitches.

She finds that she is not too bad at them. Daryl flinches a few times and she fears that maybe she is doing this all wrong. He tells her to keep going even though she has a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. At one point she feels like she might throw up. Luckily, there was not anything recent in her stomach for her to do so. She knew there was a reason she didn't want to eat lunch before Daryl was back. Apparently it was so that she didn't see the lunch again while putting Daryl's split open skin back together.

She finds admiration in the fact that her hand isn't shaking. That would end up being a real disaster. But in the end, the stitches end up being semi straight and don't look at if they were done by a five year old. Beth considers that a job well done.

She takes one last look up close to make sure that everything is sealed up and no other small pieces of metal are lodged into his skin. She happens to notice how tight Daryl's abdominal muscles are. They were chiseled out nicely. She should have been paying attention because she accidentally knocks over the alcohol bottle. She tries to catch it before it falls into the sink but she has no such luck. She quickly reaches around Daryl's torso to extract it out of the sunk before it all spills down the drain. There's another bottle underneath but Beth doesn't want to risk losing anything that could be useful in the future out of her own clumsiness.

That's when she sees the scars for the first time. Completely frozen in her place, she stares into the revealing mirror that is reflecting Daryl's back. Multiple scars were strewn across his back. They were faded, clearly decades old due to the pinkish red color. But the scars were raised above the skin. He must have been repeated hit in the same spot for them to be like that.

She then looks at him. Beth can only imagine what he has gone through. It must have been years of torment. But she can't place what it is in his eyes. Anger? Sadness? Fear? Possibly all of them. She looks away quickly, knowing that he didn't want her to see them. She opens her mouth but no words come out and she doesn't know what to say.

"S'nothin'. My old man would be drunk and got angry a lot. He was a fan of using his belt to teach me a lesson. Even if I didn't do nothin'. Got some sort of sick enjoyment out of it."

That cuts deep into her.

Her heart begins to hurt in a way it never had to. Beth drops her head and continues to wipe the rest of the remaining blood away. Her brain is searching for something to say to him, something comforting that would make him feel better and express her empathy. She ends up with nothing and can't seem to figure out the proper thing to say.

All she knows is that she can feel his pain, suddenly realizing why he is the way he is. It all made sense now.

Her eyes fill with water and she tries to make them go away but sheer willpower is not enough and her body betrays her wishes. Hot tears pore over and streak down her face. With the amount of them streaming from her eyes, the tears drip off and land onto the shirt she had changed into. Daryl realizes this and turns his head in her direction. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she chokes out in between sobs. "Ignore me, I'm fine."

She hates that she must look so weak to him.

Beth reaches to wipe the tears away. She doesn't want to be crying like this. But it's a combination of everything put together—the prison, her father's horrific death, her separation from Maggie, and now Daryl. All the emotional and psychological pain evokes a physical response. Her emotions bubble to the surface. There's no stopping it. It floods out all at once, everything that she was keeping bottled up and stored away. And she wouldn't have been triggered into crying if her feeling for Daryl hadn't grown so strong. But now she was crying in front of him about _his _scars.

They share a glance. The tears in her eyes make sight a bit blurry for her and she is sure that they must be red and puffy. Daryl's eyes are searching hers. She has no idea what he is looking for in them.

Their eyes were pouring into each others. It was like they were staring into the soul of the other. Something about it calms her down enough so that she can swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.

It felt like they were the only two people on the planet. And for all they knew, they could be.

"Shhh," Daryl insists as he takes her hand away from his side. His hand is rough against hers and cold from the rain but it doesn't matter. He usually never initiates contact with her so she is mildly surprised.

She throws herself against him and rests her head onto his bare chest. If she wasn't so upset she might be more concerned about him being half naked and the awkwardness of her breaking down in front of him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles again.

Daryl puts his hand on the back of her head, below her high ponytail. He pulls her in tight and embraces her. It's what she needs.

He doesn't say anything. So they stay like that for some time. Beth couldn't be sure how long and she couldn't have guessed if she were asked. She wraps her arms around him, being careful about the newly placed stitches. After she finally catches her breath, she breathes in heavily. She smells the woods on Daryl and decides that it fits him. He seems like the kind of person who would smell like the outdoors.

She eventually tries to pull away out of fear she is overstaying her welcome by hugging Daryl for so long. She is shocked when he pulls her back towards him. "Not yet," he whispers in a deep voice.

She smiles through her dried tears that stained her face. Daryl wanted to keep her close.

She would not argue with that.

_**A/N: It's so late right now (early morning hours) but I promised myself that I would push through and finish this chapter so I can upload it in the afternoon. If there are any mistakes I apologize. I kept rewriting the bottom half of the chapter.**_

_**Anyways, please let me know what you think. I would love to hear your opinion!**_


	4. Chapter 4

It was a few hours later after her crying incident after stitching Daryl. Now that she reflects on what happened, she feels bad about it. She shouldn't have let her emotions get the best of her. She couldn't afford to let that happen. Beth makes a mental not to not bottle everything up until she hits a point where it all explodes.

Beth stands in the kitchen and looks at the cans. She already has rice cooking in one of the pots she found in a separate cabinet. She hopes that by heating up a can of diced tomatoes and mixed vegetables will make the rice taste less plain. Daryl had cleaned up the rabbit by skinning it. Beth had to walk away when he did. It made her skin crawl to watch him take off the fur. He had wanted to show her how to but Beth had refused. She wasn't ready for that yet.

She gets the steaming rice and vegetables ready and separates them into two bowls. Grabbing out forks, she brings part of the meal over to Daryl. He is stooped down by the fire finishing up the meat. She hands him his bowl after he tells her that the rabbit is ready.

"I like this," she confesses before joining him on the floor by the fire. "It's nice."

Daryl shoves a fork full of rice into his mouth. She wonders if he did it on purpose to temporarily avoid responding to her statement. He waits until he is done chewing to talk, which is not normal for him. "Yeah, I guess it is."

They continue to eat the rest of their meal in silence, both of them staring into the fire. The sun must have gone down past the horizon by that point. The storm had made it dark and the ominous clouds where hanging back in the sky. But it was practically solid black outside, the rain coming down sideways and beating against the windows. The rain had stopped for a while but then picked back up again with more force.

Beth begins to ponder if she would have ever met Daryl if the disease that now plagued the world never broke out. She likes to think that she would have.

After dinner she cleans up. She had never tested the tap because she assumed that the water wasn't working. When she did flick on the faucet she found that the water was running a cool temperature. Beth spends more time in the kitchen rinsing out plates than she should. She stares into the abyss when washing them, not particularly thinking of anything in general. Her mind has been elsewhere these past few hours.

There was a banging at the door which startles her enough to make her jump. She ends up dropping a bowl into sink and it clangs up against a glass. She holds them in place so that they don't make any more noise. She turns off the water to hear better.

She hopes that it was the wind.

Daryl is already by a window that's by the door, crossbow by his side. He peers through the space in the plywood he created. "A walker," he breathes out. "Maybe two. Can't really tell."

"Should we kill it?"

How did they find the two of them? They were in the middle of nowhere during a fairly violent storm. There was no way that they could have heard them through the rain and wind.

"Let me look," she whispers, putting he hand on Daryl's shoulder to move him out of the way. I have younger eyes."

Daryl throws her a look and she holds back a smile.

There were definitely two of them out there. They remained close together, one of them standing directly in front of the door. That one she could see was an outline of a woman's figure, wearing a long dress. There was a smaller one wandering about behind the woman. A small boy, maybe. The way the female walker was standing there made Beth believe that she was waiting to be let in. That was until she smashed her head into the door. That's what had made the sound in the first place.

It was truly a horrific sight.

"There's two of them. One is bashing its head into the door."

Only when the smaller walker comes closer, right in front of the window she was looking out does she notice that she has seen this face before. She was right, it was a boy she was looking at. And it was the same boy in the picture frame she had picked up in the bedroom upstairs. Only this version had the look of death and decay to it.

_Oh._

Making the connection kills her inside. This cabin must have belonged to these two people. They must be mother and son. Maybe they had been on their way here and had been bitten, or maybe they had already arrived when it happened. They had then been fated to roam about their property until someone ended their misery.

"This was their house. That's why they're here. I recognize the boy from a picture upstairs."

Daryl glances out the window again. "Don't make no sense. They don't _know_ this is their house. Walkers can't think like that."

Beth shrugs. She doesn't understand it either. "Maybe they stayed out here after the got bit and turned. They couldn't get anywhere else so they waited around. I don't know, maybe it's familiar to them. Now they're starvin'. We're most likely the first good _meal _to be here."

The female walker smashes her head against the door again. Daryl lets out a laugh. "Stupid bitch," he mutters. For a second she thought he was talking about her. But it was the walker he was referring to.

Daryl takes a few steps to the right and he is at the door with his hand on the door knob. They need to get rid of them but Daryl was not in the best of shape to be battling it out with walkers like his usual self.

"You can't! You could pull your stitches out."

Daryl doesn't seem to care all that much. But then again, he wasn't the one who would have to remove them and put new stitches in. "I'll be fine. Here, come open this door for me and get out of the way once you do."

Beth lingers at his side. She realizes it's important to kill the walkers. But at the same time she doesn't want to have to redo the stitches.

She decides not to argue and does as he says. It was for the better.

Beth goes and takes a sharp kitchen knife out of a kitchen drawer. She is not going to be unprepared. She had gotten comfortable using a knife as a weapon. She knew how to maneuver it to kill a walker properly. She walks over to the door to put her hand on the doorknob. Daryl gives her the signal to open it and then get out of reach from the walkers.

She turns the latch on the door to unlock it and swings the door wide open so that it almost hits the wall. She stumbles backwards so she is away from the decaying walker and out of Daryl's range. The walker comes barreling into the cabin. It must have been leaning up against the door when she opened it because it almost falls over the entry way before catching its balance and lunging for the two of them.

Daryl's arrow sinks into its head before it has a chance and the walker falls to the ground motionlessly. The door remains wide open, letting in a cool draft of air. Daryl has already reloaded the crossbow when she looks up from the dead walker. They were waiting. Waiting for the other one to come lunging in at them. When it doesn't happen, Beth is suspicious. She steps over the female walker and starts towards the door. She feels a hand on her arm and it's Daryl pulling her back.

He had become increasingly protective of her in the time they were together.

Growls were coming from outside. They were menacing sounding. Beth's heart began racing faster as the snarls came closer. The problem was that there was no way of seeing where the walker was from where they were standing. It was too dark and they were too far away.

They could hear the low growls echoing from outside. Daryl steps closer to the door, not wanting to be the one to make the first move. He was letting the walker come to him. Going out there was basically going out blind. She hears the familiar shuffling against the ground and Beth grips her knife tighter. She wants this to be over with. With the day she has had, she only wants to go to sleep. No doubt that Daryl wants to do the same.

The dead small boy appears in the doorway. Daryl wastes no time putting it down. Beth watches as his body falls to the ground with a thud. He was so young. It was tragic that his life was so short. In the morning they would have to bury them next to each other. At least their final resting place would be together. There's some comfort in that.

Daryl hands over his crossbow to Beth. He grabs the boy by his collar and drags him outside. He is back in an instant and goes to get the female. Beth sets down the crossbow and bends down to get her legs to help him remove the body but Daryl holds out his hand to shoo her away before she can take ahold of her feet. "I got this."

"Okay," she agrees.

Beth understands. He doesn't want her to have to do this. But it's not like she was opposed to doing it. It was only fair that she pulled her own weight, just like at the prison.

Once the bodies are both outside Beth gets a few rags and soaks them with water, adding some soap. What she needs is bleach to get rid of the blood stains but she does not recall seeing any anywhere in the cabin. She gets down onto her knees and begins to scrub at the wood floor. She tries to get up as much as possible and as much as she can stomach. The blood is an unnatural color, thick and had a sickening smell. The flooring would more than likely end up with a repulsive appearing stain.

Before she can finish, Daryl comes over and takes the rags away from her, throwing them outside with the bodies as well. "Leave it," he tells her. "We can get it in the mornin'."

Beth nods in compliance. It has been an emotionally draining day.

…

She gets ready for bed upstairs. Tonight she is not going to sleep on the couch again. She wanted to curl up into the covers of a bed and sleep.

Beth finds cotton pajama shorts and slips them on. She takes off her top and plans to sleep in the camisole she has been wearing underneath. She sinks into the bed right away. Daryl comes in to make sure she is alright and she can see by his expression that he is apprehensive about leaving her by herself. He about to walk away when she stops him.

"You can stay." She pauses before she continues. "Stay with me. This day had been horrible and I need you to stay with me."

She doesn't care if it had sounded pathetic. She doesn't care if this looks weak on her part. She was sitting there in bed with the covers pulled up and bunched around her chest, and she didn't care. Not one bit.

All she wanted was for Daryl to be next to her. She would receive a higher quality sleep if he was there.

She can see him hesitate against the doorframe. It probably looked like a bad idea to him. Here she was, in bed and asking him to get in with her. Beth's camisole was messed up, pulled down too low and exposed her bra ever so slightly. She hoped it didn't seem like she was coming onto him. Honestly, she wasn't. Although the idea of Daryl and her in this bed doing something other than sleeping was a tempting idea. But she wouldn't even know how to go about that. She had never had sex before so it was a mystery to her.

"Alright," Daryl eventually obliges. He goes around the other side of the bed, kicking off his shoes. He lies down on us back and stays on top of the covers. For the first time Beth wonders if maybe his feelings for her are growing like hers are for him. Maybe that is why he is so cautious when it came to getting in bed with her.

Beth settles in. She pulls the covers up further so that they rest right below her armpit.

"I wonder what happened to my dad's body," she thinks aloud. It's not something she wants to think about but the thought has persisted in her mind off and on for a few days now.

Daryl moves his body from lying on his back to lying on his side, facing her. "Don't think like that. Don't do anybody any good. 'Sides, Hershel wouldn't want his daughter thinkin' bout that kind of stuff."

"He's in a better place, I guess. You know, with my mom. Maybe he's visiting with Lori, too."

Beth had gotten all her tears out earlier with Daryl. There was no energy inside of her that could let more drain from her eyes. She was still a bit sad. The walkers reminded her of her family members. Her mother was dead and Shawn was dead too. Her father had been dead for weeks and she didn't even know if Maggie was alive. Beth might be the last one of her family still breathing.

She moves to her other side so that she is facing the wall. She reaches behind her and takes Daryl's hand, moving it around her so that part of his arm rests on top of her ribs and his fingers are entwined with hers.

Daryl doesn't say anything. He stays there with her until she falls asleep.

_**A/N: This chapter was kind of a filler but I needed it to set up the next part. I hope it's still good!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: I need to put in a warning that there is an attempted rape scene in this chapter. It's only a few sentences and is not graphic at all. I hope no one is triggered by it in any way. **_

_**Side note—thanks for the reviews! I really do appreciate the feedback. Hopefully you all like this chapter as much as I loved writing it. This was my favorite one so far. **_

Daryl had gone out hunting again in the early morning hours. Beth had heard him sigh as he tried to move as quietly as possible out of the bed so that he would not disturb her. But she had already been awake. She stayed motionless with her eyes shut tight until Daryl had left the room. She listened as the stairs creaked and the front door shut.

She stayed in bed for a while longer. She was appreciating the quiet. Not that it wasn't when Daryl was around because he was usually pretty silent. Sometimes it drove her mad how long he could go without talking.

She hears a faint voice from outside and is puzzled by it. When she hears the door open, she instantly knows something is wrong. Daryl would not be back this soon. He had been gone for what seemed like around a half hour. He would usually spend a few hours in the woods tracking animals before coming back, even if he had caught what he was looking for right away.

She tries not to make any sound getting out of the bed. She pulls off what she had slept in and pulled on a three quarter sleeved button up shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans. She tiptoed over to the door in time to hear voices coming from the downstairs.

"Where ya think that girl is? Saw that redneck leave here. Bet she stuck around, ya know?"

Beth sucks in a sharp and terrified breath. They were talking about her, wanting to know where she was. And they knew she was still here which meant she needed to get out.

Beth searches the room. There was no way she could jump out the window, it was too high up. There was no doubt in her mind that she would end up breaking her leg if she were to try. Then those men would really have a field day with her.

She listens again. It sounds to her like there are two men roaming the downstairs.

Daryl had left her knife by the bedside table. She goes over and picks it up. She is about to try and get to another room when footsteps come up the staircase. Beth panics. She clutches the bathroom door handle in her hand, slowly turning it to prevent any noise, and opens it the slightest bit so she can get her small frame through the opening. She backs up, intently watching the door with her knife in her hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

She hears the footsteps fall outside the bedroom door. They would know she was here. It was an obvious place to hide but the only protection she could get to.

Beth swallows hard as the footsteps walk into the bedroom. "Come on out, girlie! We ain't gonna hurt ya. Promise! We just want ta see what kind of girl that redneck was gettin'. Ya look mighty fine to me, darlin'."

Beth is frozen in her place. She doesn't want to move and inch.

"Wonder if that redneck would mine sharin'," the man says, venom in his voice.

Beth backs up until the backs of her knees bump against the tub. She wishes there was a way for her to get out of here. She would be willing to leave everything behind if she could get out. All she wants is to be with Daryl and get away from these men.

"Len!" Another man yelled from what sounded like the bottom of the staircase. "Don't take too long! If she ain't here then she ain't here. We can find another."

Len. That must be his name. The name of the man who wanted to find her and do God knows what to her.

"I'm comin' down," he yelled back.

This was her chance. She had to make a run for it. It was the only way for her to leave.

She waits until his footsteps fade down the stairs again. Putting her ear against the door, she listens for any more noise. All she can hear is rustling in the kitchen.

Beth recalls the room in the far back of the upstairs. It led out to the back deck. She is sure that if she is able to pry open the window then she would be able to make her escape down a large drainage pipe and onto the deck relatively safely. It could work, if everything went right, so she goes with the plan. There isn't another option.

She unlocks the bathroom door, knowing if she didn't go now she would lose her nerve. She steps out and around the door. She hears nothing from the upstairs so she continues on. The bedroom door was wide open from the intruder and she pokes her head out and down the hall cautiously.

No one was there.

Beth dashes across the hallway and into the room that she needs to get to. The door won't close all the way without making a creaking noise so she leaves it part way open. The window is on the opposite side from where she was standing. Walking over to it, she tries to lift it open but it feels impossible to do with her large knife in her hand. She sticks the handle under her neck and presses down so she has two free hands.

The window slides open once she puts all her might into it. She notes that she should really be building some arm muscles.

Taking the knife back into her hand, she gets one leg out of the window when she is abruptly pulled back into the room. A gasp falls from her mouth as strong hands grab onto her.

"There ya are. Whatcha hidin' from? " The man sneers. She can tell by his voice that it is Len.

He is tall with brown hair and a looked nothing short of dangerous. There was an overpowering vibe of menace that came from him.

He snatches her wrists, knocking the knife out of her grasp. She fights him, trying to loosen the grip. "Stop it! Get away from me," she screams.

He smirks at her. "Now if I had a dime for every time I heard that…"

She shrieks again, only to have her mouth covered up by Len's hand. He throws her onto the ground with force. She happens to fall onto the knife and luckily for her it doesn't push into her skin. Len must have realized the mistake and grabbed for her again, picking her up from behind so that she was off the floor. The knife was in her hands, just barely, threatening to fall back down.

She kicks her legs in the air and throws Len off balance. He drops her so that she lands on her feet, stumbling until her back hits the wall. She doesn't have enough time to get her knife into position to strike. Len was angry now, angry that she was putting up a fight.

He lunges at her with a terrifying look in his eyes. The knife is knocked out of her hand as the two of them tumble to the ground. The man wrestles with her until he has both of her hands bound together by his. "Now look her, girlie. Don't you go screamin' and make me cut you up. Be a good girl for me, will ya?"

He slams her head against and floor which momentarily disorientates her. The room spins and her vision gets blurry. It feels like a massive headache is setting in as her body begins to go limp.

Her vision readjusts to the room to see the man take off his belt. She feels his hands against her chest, pulling open a few buttons of her shirt so that her white bra was exposed. Fear strikes through her veins as realization sets in. He was going to rape her.

_No._

She couldn't die like this. And she could not let this stranger force himself onto her. Something inside of her decides to fight harder, even if it was to the death. It was what Daryl would want her to do.

She sees the knife and it is close enough for her to barely get it. The man is too distracted by trying to get his pants off for him to notice so she takes the opportunity. Beth reaches for it, her fingers grazing over the end of the silver knife. She forces her arm to extend longer despite the pain of it. She doesn't know what she is doing. She had gone into survival mode by this point.

Beth grips her knife tight to the point where her knuckles went white against her skin. It was not going to fall out of her grasp again. She had one shot at this. She gasps as the knife slides into her hand and as she jabs it into the man's neck. Blood comes squirting out, covering her shirt and chest. Some drops hit her in the face. The man looks her directly in the eyes. There is shock in them.

He pulls the knife out of his neck, only to cause an even more substantial amount of blood to come gushing out. She drags herself away with her palms against the carpet to get far away from him. The man before her falls face first onto the carpet floor, blood seeping into the tan carpet. It kept coming out of him.

Beth had never seen so much blood. Her hands start to tremble.

She somehow finds her footing. Once she hops over the dead man, she runs down the stairs, her feet feeling heavy. There was another one in the house, she had heard the two of them talking when they first entered the cabin. He is nowhere in sight so she races to the door. She needs to find Daryl.

The door opens easily and she throws herself off the small porch and onto the front part of the property. "Daryl!" she screams into the air. "Daryl!"

Beth is about to make a run for it when a heavy mass slams into her from behind and she falls to the ground. She hits the ground hard and thankfully her arms brake her fall or her head would have been hit once more.

"You bitch!" the man yells at her. His fist makes contact with her face. Searing pain jolts through her but she is able to block the second blow. Her adrenaline is pumping which meant that once the initial strike was over, the pain dissipated.

"Get off of me!" she screams. Her voice is loud. A flock of birds in a nearby tree scatter, frightened by the sudden shrieking.

He is hovering over top of her, in a similar position to the first man who found her. Only this one doesn't have any intention of raping her. This one is out for blood, more specifically, her blood. He wanted her dead. The man then grabs her throat and squeezes tightly. Air escapes her. She tries to suck in air but is not able too. Her hands are able to find the ones that are wrapped around her neck. She digs her nails into his hand and draws blood out. That causes the man to yelp in agony.

He loosens his grip around her neck and she is able to inhale a sharp breath into her lungs. She trashes her body around, trying to get him off of her. He is too heavy, she knows this. But she still persists in attempting to rid herself of him.

She sees the shimmer of a blade and braces herself for it to tear through her skin when she puts up her hands to prevent him from getting too close. He'll probably try to slit her throat with it.

His body sways to the side before he can do anything. And arrow shoots through his left temple and he drops to the side. Beth stays on ground with her palms pressed into the dirt. She had narrowly escaped death twice. Daryl appears seconds later and lifts her up off the ground.

"What happened?!" Beth isn't able to answer him. She can only stare at the ground where the dead man was. Daryl puts two hands on her shoulders and shakes her so she looks at him. "Beth, what happened?!"

She opens her mouth to speak but is unable to. She was in shock. Beth wasn't aware that she was capable of taking a life. She had _killed _a man. Not a walker, they didn't count as people. They were already dead with only the shell of a person remaining. No, she had stabbed a person in the neck without hesitation and watched as the blood poured out of his jugular.

"In the bedroom," she utters in a low voice that she wasn't sure was entirely audible. Daryl grabs her hand and begins to walk up to the door, taking her along with him. She panics, trying to get out of his grasp. "No! No!"

When her arm is free she notices that it is soaked in blood. Her entire forearm is red with only spots of her white skin poking through. She examines it curiously. She had not seen that blood before. How had she not seen it?

Daryl is looking at them. His gaze shifts to her chest with furrowed eyebrows, a look of dread entering upon his face. She then recalls the man upstairs unbuttoning her shirt. She had forgotten about that part. Her hands fly to her chest, feeling her skin and the cotton material of her bra. She buttons three of them back up. There isn't much of a point. There was too much blood on the shirt for her to continue wearing it.

Daryl has anger in his eyes now. He goes inside, not knowing what he was walking into. She wants to say something. She wants to tell him not to go in there. What would he think when he saw how she had so viciously stabbed the man?

Beth stands there watching the door for Daryl to come back out. There was not a chance in hell she was going back in there.

A strange thing happens next. A wave of calmness washes over her. It comes out of nowhere. She brushes it off, thinking it was because the bad guys were dead and she was reunited with Daryl.

He finally comes back outside. Beth fiddles with her hands, digging at her nail beds. Daryl walks over to her and hands her backpack over to her. "What's this?"

"We're leavin'. It's not safe here anymore. I'd bet everything that there more of those guys wanderin' 'round here somewhere."

Beth shakes her head, taking the backpack and pushing it over her shoulders. It was heavier than before. She assumes Daryl had put a bunch of food and any other necessary supplies in her bag.

"We should go," she offers.

Daryl is quiet. He looks like she wants to say something but he ends up not. Beth is grateful for that. All she needs is to get out of here.

…

In a nearby creek Beth washes her hands and arms off while Daryl scans the ground for anyone or anything that would be coming their way. It takes some time to get all of the blood from her skin. Frustration sets in when the dried blood under her nails gives her a hard time. She grows tired of washing it off. Instead, she starts to rip off her shirt and intends to put on the new one Daryl had got from the cabin.

She wasn't thinking in the moment, only focusing on getting the bloodied shirt off of her and hopefully the memory of Len with it. When the shirt is unbuttoned and almost off of her arms she see that Daryl is watching her.

"What are you doin'?" He barks, not prepared for her to be removing her clothes in front of him.

She had been unaware of his presence in that moment, but it doesn't bother her. She does do something crazy though, and turns around to face him as she unbuttons. "Changing. I can't stand to be in this anymore." Daryl averts his eyes a second after her shirt is all the way off and on the ground. She plans to leave it there forever. "What? I don't care if you see me, Daryl. Not a big deal."

She doesn't watch for his response. Pulling the new shirt out of her bag and over her head, she feels ten times better already. She is thankful that Daryl thought to put a change of clothes in her bag. But she does take notice of a few scratches on her chest where Len had torn open her shirt. They would fade, and she hopes the memory will too.

Daryl peeks back up at her to make sure she is clothed before moving to her. "If anythin' had happened …" he trails off.

Beth then sees how dependent they are on each other. Somehow Daryl needed Beth as much as she needed him. Without each other they would surely be broken.

"I didn't die."

His eyes flicker to her blood soaked shirt. "If he had done anythin' to you…"

"He threw me around pretty good. Nothing too bad. That's all."

Relief washes over his face, but she can tell that he is not convinced. "You did good back there," Daryl praises. "Might not feel like it now but you took care of yourself."

Beth shakes her head. Part of her should be happy she was able to defend herself against an impending threat. The other half of her doesn't know what to feel.

"Are you supposed to feel bad?" She questions Daryl. "When you kill someone, are you supposed to feel guilty about it?"

Daryl shrugs, looking at the ground and then back up at her. "Depends on who it is. That guy back there… no, you shouldn't be feelin' guilty 'bout that. He was a bad person. You were tryin' to save yourself, that's all."

Beth decides to listen to Daryl. She is not going to feel bad or guilty about ending the life of a man who in all actuality didn't deserve to live. He had probably terrorized other girls like Beth. So she decides to believe she was doing the world a favor by getting rid of him. At least now he wouldn't hurt anyone else.

Beth gets the urge to hug Daryl again. And she does just that. She is convinced that it is because he is a greater hugger. His strong arms make her feel so safe and at home that she never wants to leave them. She would like to stand in this place with him for eternity is she could. Even if he doesn't want to hug her right now, she links her arms around him and her head falls sideways against his chest.

"Thanks for savin' me…keeping me alive, again. You must be getting tired of it by now."

Beth should really start making a list of all the times Daryl saves her from imminent death. She will need to repay him one day.

She gets up onto her toes and puts one hand onto his shoulder and the other onto his neck so that her thumb is resting on his jaw line. She closes her eyes and places a kiss onto Daryl's cheek. He pulls away somewhat when her lips connect with the side of his face. Clearly, he had not been ready for that.

She pulls him back into a hug afterwards, not wanting to let go. Daryl's arms had stayed in place around her. She likes this. She likes it too much. And she wasn't willing to stop feeling the way she did. She desperately wants to know if Daryl feels the same about her, that possibly he saw her differently than the girl he met back at the farm a couple years ago. Or the girl who couldn't protect herself back at the prison.

She thinks that she might be good for him. And that he would be good for her.

For all anyone knows, they could end up together in the end. It's not completely unlikely. Beth is sure she will do everything in her power for it to happen. She wants this and accepts it entirely. Somehow Daryl Dixon made his way into her heart and made no plans so go anywhere soon.


	6. Chapter 6

Beth was beginning to believe that they were cursed. After what they had been through, who wouldn't? They were cursed to roam around, never being able to stay in one place for long. Something always ruined it. The farm with the walkers, the prison due to the Governor, and now the cabin by the idiots who had intruded.

She forced her mind to travel to something else. She wondered about where Maggie was. Beth really missed her sister. Not knowing what her fate was drove Beth insane. She would sometimes wake in the middle of the night and lie there scrutinizing every possibility of what could have happened back at the prison. And yes, she has considered the possibility that Maggie is dead, or worse, a walker. She is convinced otherwise. Maggie had to be alive. She was too strong to die, too resilient.

From where Beth was on the ground she could see the beautiful stars when something else appeared into her line of vision. It was something see perceived as being equally as beautiful.

Daryl.

She smiled up at him from her place on the solid Earth. She's surprised that she can still smile after everything that has happened. Maybe it is Daryl that allows her ability to be happy and content shine through in dark times. She doesn't know what else it would be other than him.

Daryl is standing there, arms at his side, looking dead at her. "What?" she asks him, curious about his intense stare.

"Nothin'," he replies.

Something is up, and Beth will drag it out of him if she has to. She was not in the mood for him and his evasion to questions he didn't want to answer. She was through with that.

"Ask me, Daryl."

"You meant what you said back there? That he done nothin' to you?"

There. He had finally said it. She knew by the look he had been giving her for the past several hours was one that had developed out of not knowing what had happened in the cabin between Len and her. She had told him that nothing happened, but she knew doubt was in his mind about it. After all, he had found her with her shirt unbuttoned and bra showing. And when he found Len, his pants were unzipped. He must have assumed the worst.

Beth gets up off the ground, brushing any dirt from her jeans. "He didn't get the chance to do anything."

"It's my fault."

Daryl is beating himself up about this, she can tell that much. She would not let him do that. For some reason he likes to think that everything is his fault when it's not. It's a bad habit of his.

Beth is quick to respond. "Don't think that. It's in no way your fault. Seriously, it's okay."

Daryl becomes agitated within a second. His eyes snap up to hers, jaw clenched. She flashes back to when they were at the first cabin and Daryl was drunkenly trying to show her how to shoot a crossbow and he was telling her he wasn't afraid of anything. That was the same demeanor he was giving her now.

"Stop that! It is not okay, Beth! You don't even know what could have happened back there!"

"Of course I know what could have happened! I'm not oblivious," she yells back at him, furious. "I was there, remember? He was going to rape me but he didn't. Now let's drop the subject." Beth huffs, shaking her head it. "_God_. Now I understand how Maggie felt."

Daryl falls silent. He goes from being angry to mellow in an instant.

"I couldn't protect you," he whispers.

Beth lightens her tone of voice. Now she understands the real reason he is angry. "No point in feeling guilty 'bout somethin' you had no control over, Daryl. Please, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to remember anything about that guy. I'm safe and you're safe. That's all that matters. "

She steps forward and throws herself into Daryl. He embraces her, wrapping his arms around her tighter than he ever has before. "I'm sorry," he mumbles into the top of her head.

She is about to tell him that there is nothing to be sorry for but she stops herself. There would be no convincing Daryl that what happened was not his fault. He could not have done anything differently. If saying this to her made him feel better, then she would let him apologize and then they could get on with things.

Beth is the first to pull away. "What are we going to do now?"

She hadn't asked him before. She had kept following him from the cabin, not asking any questions.

"We keep movin'."

"We'll find another place. I know we will. We have the best and worst luck like that, you know? Find a place, get run out of it. It's like it's become the circle of life with us," she half-jokingly remarks. It is true. That is what keeps happening to them. The good thing is that they were destined to find a new place to stay at.

They follow the creek for a few miles. The width of the water expands on both sides as they go further, turning into a river. The water also runs clearer the farther they go. Beth can see the small rounded stones that lie on the edge of the river. Tiny lilac colored flowers are crowded around in bunches near the border. She takes it as a sign they were going in the right direction, away from the painful past.

It's nice to hear the rush of the water go by. It makes Beth feel oddly safe. She had never seen a walker swim before and doubts they can; walkers were too uncoordinated for that.

"Hey, do you think walkers could swim?" Beth asks because she is tired of the lack of conversation between them since they began their trek.

"Ever see a walker backstroke before?"

Beth laughs at Daryl's joke. What a sight that would be.

"No, I've never seen The Walker Olympics. I'll have to watch it next time it's on cable," she jokes back.

Daryl and Beth both laugh at the ridiculousness of their discussion. And just like that they were back to being themselves. No more weirdness between them from their previous almost-fight. It was simply Beth and Daryl.

—

When the sun starts its decline and hovers above the horizon, Daryl stops her to say that they should make camp. They are still by the river by that point, following it north, as Daryl told her. Beth had frowned. She wouldn't even be able to tell which way was north or south until Daryl showed her the signs. She regrets not taking that class her high school offered that taught about wilderness survival skills. Beth should have listened when Maggie told her that she should take it and that it would be a fun class, not to mention an easy grade. She had thought she would never need it.

Boy, was she wrong.

Beth needs to wash the blood and sweat off of her. She had gotten most of it off after the cabin incident but some was lingering on her skin. She is stunned when Daryl suggests hopping into the river to get it all off.

She eyes the flowing water. A few years ago it might have scared her to go into a body of water that she couldn't see the bottom of. Now the one thing she can think of is getting clean. Her old fears diminish rapidly.

"I'll keep watch," Daryl says. He nudges her toward the river before he turns his back to her.

Since he was giving her no choice, Beth decides to go in. She scans the area before she removes her jeans and top carefully and folds them neatly. She pauses when she goes to unclasp her bra. It was a bizarre feeling to know she was about to be naked in the middle of the woods with Daryl Dixon standing a few feet from her. "Here." Beth hands her items over to Daryl. "Hold these for me."

She swiftly retreats into the cover of the water. It feels good, actually. She scrubs her arms and under her nails for a second time. She holds her breath and dips her head underwater so she can wash out the blood and dirt from her hair. Coming back to the surface with her hair sticking to her face, Beth finishes cleaning off her body.

Her eyes drift over to Daryl when she rings out her hair. From behind she could tell that he had her clothes in one hand, holding them against his chest, while his other held his crossbow at his side. His vest with the angel wings is pointing right at her. She should ask him why he wore that vest all the time. In the years she has known Daryl, she grew to know that in order to spot him in a crowd she should look for the angel wings first. It was always an indicator of where he was.

Beth is about to make her way out of the river when she feels something go against her leg. "Oh my gosh!" She automatically freaks out and splashes water around, trying to get whatever was there away from her.

Daryl swings around, looking to aim at the cause of her commotion. Beth sinks back down into the water. She was not in the mood to flash Daryl. "What is it?"

"Something touched my leg!" She hisses in a worried tone. "And you're not supposed to look!"

"Well I wouldn't have you hadn't been screamin'. Come on, get out of there! Don't need you attracting any walkers cuz some algae drifts past you."

Beth resists the urge to laugh. "Algae? It wasn't that, I swear! It was something big and it felt…slimy." She makes a disgusted face and rubs her hands against her leg. "It was gross."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Most likely it was your imagination. Now get a move on and get out here before I come in and get you myself."

Beth can't help the devilish smirk that she feels appear across he lips. She sinks further under the water so that her chin is part way covered. "Fine. Come get me. See if I care," she challenges.

She knows that Hell would freeze over before Daryl Dixon came in a got her when she was fully naked. That would be an extremely awkward situation. Daryl was already awkward to begin with, something that Beth really likes about him.

Daryl holds out her clothes. "Beth," he warns.

She feels brave and teases him further. "Most men would jump at the chance to see a woman naked," she remarks while slowly inching closer to the edge of the river that was covered by green plants that thrived by water.

"I ain't most men."

Beth considers this. "You're right, you're not. You're one of the good ones."

Beth contemplates what Daryl's expression would be to her walking out of the river, revealing her naked body. It's tempting, very tempting. However, she is too self-conscious about her own nudity to do anything like that. It's not like she has an overly womanly body. There wouldn't be much to show off.

"Well, are you gonna watch me or what?" Beth waits once she is close enough to the edge. "Close your eyes or turn around," she orders him.

He turns around and holds her clothes out to the side for her to come get. Beth makes her way out of the water. She didn't like feeling so exposed.

She takes her clothes out of Daryl's hands and puts them on as fast as she can. They don't go on easily because of her damp skin. She would kill for a towel right about now. It's a struggle when she gets to her jeans. She has to jump a few times to slide them on.

She has her bra on but not her shirt when Daryl turns around, expecting her to dressed. Beth freezes in her place. He has never seen her with this much skin showing.

"Shit," he cusses as he closes his eyes and turns around again. "Sorry."

She rolls her eyes even though he can't see her do it. She is actually a bit offended. "Jeez, am I that unbearable to look at?"

"S'not that and you know it."

"_Right_," she says sarcastically.

Daryl sighs. Beth had noticed after some time that Daryl had different sighs that meant different things. It's crazy but true. Be with someone long enough and people tend to pick up on these sort of things. Or maybe Beth is more observant than most.

She's been around him long enough to pick up on what each one of his sighs meant. There were three distinct ones that she could pick up on. The first two she noticed was from back at the prison. It was when someone did or said something that Daryl thought was either a stupid idea or a stupid statement. The second one was when he believed he was being judged by other people. The last one was when he wasn't able to get his point across. This last one was the particular sigh he was expelling into the air now.

Daryl takes a minute to compose his thoughts. "It ain't right for me to be lookin' at you without clothes on, that's all."

"I _had _clothes on, just not all of them," she grumbles in his direction. "Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for you to see me."

"I can't be doin' that. You know it and I know it."

"Wait, what does that mean, that it ain't right? That I'm too young? Don't pull that crap with me. We both know age doesn't matter anymore. Even if it did, there ain't no one around to say otherwise. "

Whoa, where had that come from? And since when did she get so bold?

Beth taps his shoulder to let him know that she has her shirt on now. He doesn't turn around right away so Beth takes a few strides so she is by his side of him.

An overly awkward silence passes between them. She shouldn't have said those things but she doesn't regret it either.

Beth picks at her nails, pretending that they haven't been scrubbed already. Daryl begins to take a few steps over to where wood was in a pile for a fire. "Aren't you goin' in?"

"Nope."

"Oh, that's right. My mistake. I forgot you like to be dirty."

Beth does not mean for it to come out sounding sexual, yet it did. She feels like taping up her mouth after that.

She hopes Daryl did not take it the same way it sounded. Luckily for her if he had, he gave no indication of it.

The night moves forward and Beth begins to see the error in her daring choice of language when she was in the river and then when she was discussing her nakedness. What an idiot. That was what she was. A total idiot.

An hour later when their camp is set Daryl somehow manages to kill some fish that were in the river. Beth squints her eyes at them. They were probably what had freaked her out earlier in the day when she was in the river. As they eat, Beth tells Daryl her theory about the fish attacking her in an endeavor to lighten the mood. Daryl finds it to be hilarious, which is a relief to her. He shakes his head at her, telling her that the fish were the least if her worries.

The campfire was dimming down as night fell across the sky. Beth was sitting across from Daryl in their usual positions when there were back on the road in the woods during nightfall. It's a seemingly quiet night, peaceful. All she can hear is the fire crackling and the flow of the river that was not too far from them. When Daryl looks up at her she does not glance away, embarrassed, like she would normally do. She waits until he is the one to drop his dark eyes to the ground by the fire.

She could get lost in those eyes if she wasn't careful.

How did she end up feeling what she did for him? Daryl was the least likely person for her to be falling for. And yet she was. The feelings for him pulled the strings of her heart, infiltrating it. She couldn't ignore them or wish them away. They were there to stay.

—

Daryl isn't sure if he likes it or dislikes it when he catches Beth staring at him. It makes him feel awkward—like he shouldn't have been tempted to glance at her in the first place to see that she as looking at him.

It's an irrational thought.

As he watches the fire turn into gleaming red ashes, he fights the urge to see if Beth still has her eyes on trained him.

The issue was that he was getting a strange vibe from her. He was so bad at this. Bad with women in general. He couldn't tell if Beth had been coming on to him or if he was hallucinating things.

Hell, if Hershel was alive he would have a heart attack if he knew what was going on inside Daryl's mind. Not to mention Maggie would kill him herself if they ever found her. She would probably use his own crossbow to do it, too.

But, hey, he was trying his best to bury the impure thoughts deep into his subconscious.

It had a tendency of never working.

The image of Beth in her white bra, hair wet, and big blue eyes gazing at him was forever burned into his mind. Why did he have to turn around? He should have waited until she told him. But, no, he had mindlessly twisted around to see her and now he was fucked. Now he had this image in his head. His body was telling him that what she said about age is true, that it no longer mattered. Of course his brain is telling him that it's wrong. Enter the conflict that was raging inside of him.

His brain wanted one thing and his body wanted another. Why the fuck did things have to be so damn complicated for him?

Normally, he wouldn't feel the need to explain what he meant with what he said but he needs to do something to get rid of the tension that was most likely one-sided.

"What I was saying before, it's not that I don't _want—_"

He cuts himself off before he can say anymore. Daryl shuts his eyes out of his own stupidity. _Damn_. He dug himself into a deeper hole with that one.

He made things go from bad to worse.

"What?" Beth questions. He had peeked her interest.

"Nothin'. Forget I said anythin'."

She drops it and he will be forever grateful. He wants to kick himself in the face for almost revealing his inner thoughts. Beth did not need to know what was floating around inside his head and she most certainly did not need to know his desires. That was going to be unspoken and not acted upon.

He couldn't, could he?

Now he was playing Devil's advocate with himself. It was fucking ridiculous. He man a grown man trying to downplay how bad his thoughts and desires about Beth were. By some means, they both had intensified within the time they spend together. And exploring the ideas that plagued his mind made it harder for him to constantly be around the girl who was the one who would appear in his fantasies.

_Half your age,_ he tells himself over and over. Problem is that he is listening less and less to his inner voice.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Thanks for those of you who are reviewing! It helps me out a lot. FYI I uploaded chapter 6 for a second time because I wanted to fix a grammar mistake. Okay, that's all I've got to say.**_

Beth has consistently been one to have very vivid dreams. They are so lifelike and full of color. All of the people in them look exactly like they do in real life. This means that nightmares are especially frightening. She doesn't have them too often, thankfully, but when she does they are awful ones where she wakes up sweating and almost hyperventilating. She can never fall back asleep after that, too afraid to fall back into the nightmare.

This night was one of those nights.

Beth is running. She has been transported back to the prison during the attack. Explosions are going off, debris going in all directions. Sharp metal pieces graze her as she avoids the burning heat of the fire. Bullets fly past her and semi-automatics are rattling in the distance. The noise of it all is deafening. There is a ringing in her ears that doesn't stop.

There are bodies everywhere, appearing out of thin air. They are covering the ground with blood. She can't get away fast enough. She needs to find Maggie and Daryl.

Familiar faces start to appear amongst the bodies. Carl is the first one that she recognizes. It brings her to a dead stop in the middle of the chaos. He is on the ground, arms and legs tangled with a gun by his side. Then there is Rick and Carol that have fallen next to him, both with clothes that are soaked in vibrant red. Michonne is on the other side of Rick, her head resting next to his chest. They all have their eyes open.

Another explosion goes off behind her. It distracts her so much that a walker is almost able to bite into her arm. She is forced to shoot it in the head with a pistol that manifests in her hands. It falls to the ground on top of Rick's already dead body, adding to the pile. Then she sees that it is Glenn who was the walker that attacked her.

Pain is all she felt. Emotional, physical, and psychological.

How could this have happened?

She heard Maggie, screaming at the top of her lungs in the other direction. She tries to run toward her but cannot figure out where her sister's voice is coming from. One turn and she is inside the prison. It is quiet now, no sound from anything else but the clanking of her boots against the concrete of the prison floor.

She stumbles upon Maggie. The Governor has her by the back of the neck with Michonne's katana in the other hand. He was going to kill her.

Before she can do or say anything, the sword plunges into Maggie's stomach. Blood gushes out and drips down her body before he throws her onto the floor.

Beth makes a run for it. She turns down many corridors to try and put distance between her and the Governor. It seems like she is going in circles, passing the same doors and hallways twice. There is no escape from him.

"Beth."

It is Daryl who speaks her name. When she turns to her right she expects to see him there but he is not alone. The Governor is there with him, holding the katana to his throat.

"No," she pleads. "Take me instead."

The Governor's eyes are blank and hollow. It is clear that there will be no mercy.

"Beth." It is the last thing she hears from Daryl before his throat is sliced into. And just like that, the last of the people she loved and care about are dead.

The Governor moves Daryl out of the way. Beth knows she should run but cannot find the strength to make her legs move. He charges right at her, katana held in the air.

"Beth," she hears her name one more.

"No!" she yells, fully awake now. She doesn't realize that the nightmare is over and throws out her hands to keep the Governor from slicing through her.

Powerful hands clutch her wrists to restrain her. "Beth!"

She stops moving at the familiar voice. She blinks into the dark to make sure that the voice matches Daryl. It's difficult to see in the darkness. She is able to make out the outline of Daryl's muscular physique so she lets her body relax. She twists her hands so that she can grab ahold of his wrists. She places her thumb onto the inside, feeling the veins. She finds what she was searching for—his heartbeat.

She sits up and runs her hand through her hair. It has dried wavy, a bit knotted. There was a good amount of frizziness to her hair coming from the rising humidity level.

"Bad dream?"

Beth nods. "Horrific."

There would be no more sleep after this. This was one nightmare she was not going to relive.

"Everyone was dead. Maggie, Glenn, Michonne. Everyone." A chill goes up her spine as she recalls the nightmare she had to him. "Even you."

"It wasn't real."

Beth nods in response. Technically speaking, the only part she knows is not real is that Daryl is not dead since he was here with her now. He was alive. There was uncertainty about the rest. She hopes this dream was not foreshadowing any future deaths.

She fights back the water that is building in her eyes. Beth brings the back of her hand to her face to wipe away the wells of water before they fall out of her eyes. It was over. The nightmare was over and she was back to reality. She will try and shake the nightmare off but it will be something that sticks with her for a while.

"Go on back to sleep," Daryl says after a few minutes have gone by and she recovers from the awful dream.

Beth moves so that she is sitting up against a large tree. She stretches her legs out in front of her. "No," she refuses. "It's your turn to sleep. You must be exhausted."

Daryl shrugs it off like he is not tired. She knows he is. He has to be. They have been through a lot lately and he needed sleep just as much as she did, more even. He was the one who did most of the work. Daryl hunted, prepared meat, and was constantly on alert for danger. That required way more energy than what she was used to doing on a daily basis.

Beth makes a venturous move and pats her legs twice. "Come here. It'll be better than using your arm as a pillow." Daryl looks at where she put her hands and then back up at her. She can see indecisiveness in his eyes. He won't be convinced easily. "I don't want us to end up dead because you're sleep deprived," she adds.

Daryl bites his bottom lip, deciding whether he should take her up on the offer. "Fine. But don't be watchin' me sleep or anythin' like that."

Beth lets out a half-laugh at his side of the deal. She already watched him sleep whenever he did. It's not like she did it obsessively for hours. A few minutes here and there sufficed. This knowledge is something that she kept to herself. No need to scare Daryl off.

A burst of nervousness explodes through her body as Daryl moves over to her, lying on his back. She can see how slow he lowers his head onto her lap. She doesn't want this to be awkward for him but she doesn't know what to do that would ease the uncomfortableness into oblivion. She wishes that he never felt that way around her. Nevertheless, that was who he was: shy and awkward Daryl. And she was shy and unsure of herself. What a pair they were.

She doesn't touch him, keeping her arms at bay to her side. She tilts her head upwards to watch the stars. She finds that it passes the time well.

Daryl yawns once he settles in. He is fast asleep in no time at all. All Beth can do is smile. She's glad that he listened to her and is getting some rest. He deserves it.

As the hours went by Beth could feel in the air that it was going to be a brutally hot day. It was early morning, the sun barely peeking over the horizon. That meant it was time to move. Most everything was already packed with the exception of some various items that were around the camp. Beth was waiting for Daryl to wake up like he usually did once the sun rose. She didn't have the heart to wake him. He was sleeping so peacefully next to her, head resting on her lap. She did not want to disturb him.

Beth moves a few wisps of dark hair out of his face. Her fingers hardly brush up against his face but it was enough to make her fingertips tingle. She rests her arm on top of his chest so that her hand is touching his upper arm. She does this because she has this longing to hold him, to be as close to him as possible. Daryl is a light sleeper so she doesn't dare make any more movements, especially towards him. She would settle for admiring him from where she was.

Beth regrets not getting to know Daryl before they escaped the prison together. She should have sat down with him at some point and asked about his life. He was so private, so secretive, and so distant that she hadn't. And now that he had revealed parts of his life to her she wishes that she would have had more sense back at the prison to get to know him better then.

She can sense as his low and steady breathing turns higher paced as he wakes up. Beth thinks that maybe she should remove her arm but ends up not doing that. She keeps it in its place. For some reason it seems to belong around Daryl. So instead, she slants her head back up at the sky to pretend like she hadn't been watching him like he told her not to.

She holds back a grin, knowing she was going to get away with it. He would never know.

Her eyes meet Daryl's and for a brief second and she swears that the world stops turning. "Hi," she is able to say.

"How long have I been asleep?" Daryl asks in a gruff, sleepy voice.

Beth shrugs. "I'm not sure exactly. A while. But definitely not long enough. You should sleep more."

Daryl rubs his eyes. "I don't think so." He goes to rub his shoulder, but his hand bumps into Beth's and he stops moving altogether. Neither of them says anything. Beth retracts her arm away so he can get up.

Daryl clears his throat once he is standing up. "Uh, we should pack up. We're wastin' daylight."

Beth pushes herself off the ground with her hands and goes about packing up anything that was theirs. There isn't much to put back into her bag. For the most part she keeps everything together in case they need to flee they are in a hurry. Once it is all together Daryl and her pick up their journey where they left it.

"I think it's gonna be a real hot day today. The humidity keeps getting worse," Beth says as she digs around in her bag to see how much clean water was left. There are three full bottles that are left. It should last them long enough, at least until tomorrow. If they got desperate they could drink from the river. It's not the safest thing to do but there is no way to boil the water to insure it was clean. They would have to make due.

—

It was scorching by mid-day. The sun was beaming down relentlessly. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was torture. Georgia was becoming like an oven and Beth knew that her pale skin was going to be burnt in some places, feeling like it was on fire. Daryl's hair was wet from sweating so much. She has no idea how he keeps his vest on in this kind of heat. Added layers were unnecessary. If it were her, she would have ripped that thing off ages ago.

The fear of heat exhaustion was beginning to bother Beth. How long would it take until it set in? They had been hiking for miles in what had turned into some rough terrain. All their energy was being depleted.

She was pleased that they had stayed along the river, not traveling to far from it. The water was cool to the touch. They would occasionally stop to throw water on their face and to wash off the sticky feeling on their arms that the sweat was giving them.

A few twigs snap, alerting Daryl and Beth. They stop in their tracks. Daryl nods over to his left, indicating where the noise originated from.

A female walker stumbles out from the trees, knocking over bushes to get to them. It growls loudly at Daryl. Beth notices how swollen the walkers belly is. She cringes at the thought that it had just had a full meal of flesh, but stops when she understands the true meaning. It was pregnant. Or _had _been pregnant.

Daryl lowers his crossbow. He must have come to the same conclusion as her.

It was sad. Beth can't help but feel bad for the women. She must have been in her third trimester, around eight months pregnant when she lost her life and became a walker. She never got a chance to see her child, nor did the child ever get a chance to join the world.

It reminds her of Lori and how she had to die to save her child. Maggie had been so distraught over that. Beth does a short prayer for Judith. Hopefully she was alive somewhere safe.

Daryl looks at Beth when he takes a step back to increase the distance between him and the walker. She is coming at them fast. Beth knows what needs to be done. This woman was not a living person anymore. Whether she looked pregnant or not, she had to be killed. And as sad as that was, it was the truth.

Daryl turns back to the walker and shoots and arrow through its head. Beth hears the thud as she hits the ground. Before Daryl can, she trudges over to the walker. She leans over and pulls out the arrow covered in a messy dark colored blood. She remains in her spot by the dead woman for longer than necessary. "Sorry," she whispers to her. The walker can't hear her but she felt the need to apologize.

Beth takes a few steps towards Daryl. She hands the arrow over sullenly and he takes it. "Maybe we should stop for today," she suggests.


	8. Chapter 8

A heat wave hits Georgia with full force. Three days of constantly ruthless heat meant that Daryl and Beth were not getting as far as he would have liked. He was careful not to push Beth too hard. She was so small to him, but not fragile. Not anymore. He no longer viewed her as if she were going to break.

It was weird. He would sometimes look over at Beth and see that she was so different now. She was stronger. Somehow she managed to change him too.

He sees things differently now, in a new light that he never possessed before. He feels it now, this change she has brought to him. Merle would have said that he was going soft but Daryl doesn't believe that's true. She was opening up a new part to him that hadn't existed before they were together. He would never say this but he kind of likes it.

It is approaching dusk when they find an old house with a barn not far from it. The house is a two story that is painted a dull white. It looked eerily similar to the one at the Greene family's farm. It was clear from the outside that this house was abandoned. Shutters were falling off, some of them hanging on by one bolt. Vines had grown up onto the porch and were crawling up the side, trying to encase the house with green overgrown vegetation.

There are windows that are smashed in and broken to pieces. Daryl tells Beth to stay back while he checks out the front part where all of the plants and vines have taken up residence. He doesn't want her anywhere close if a walker decided to jump out like what had happened to him when a walker threw its arms out at him while trying to get to the car when he was with Michonne and the others.

Daryl steps up onto the porch and peers around the door that was part way open. It was not at all inviting. From where he stands, he can see that the inside of the house it a mess. What furniture he can see is has been thrown around. There are holes in the flooring and there are strange markings on the walls with what looks like human blood.

Before even stepping inside he comes to the conclusion that there is nothing in the house that could be useful to them. If there had been anything, it was surely raided by now by others.

Daryl turns and walks back down the steps. He nods over to the barn, taking Beth's arm in his hand to guide her that way. "It'll be safer to stay in the barn for tonight."

Beth expels a sigh of relief. "Good. I was just thinkin' that. This house gives me the creeps. "

As the make their way over to the barn, Beth tells Daryl about how when Maggie and Shawn were little, they would have races from their house to the barn and back again to see who was faster. "Maggie was always faster than Shawn even though they were the same height," Beth recalls. "That drove him crazy. She would brag about it for weeks because he would get so mad. I knew from there on to never compete with her."

She tells him a few other stories about when she was little, like how Maggie and her would stay well past their bedtime and then sneak downstairs to raid the kitchen cabinets for sweets. He enjoys hearing about it. It's nice to know that a decent childhood was possible. Besides that, he likes hearing about Beth's past. Something about the way she so animatedly tells her stories is interesting to him.

Once at the barn, Daryl unhinges the lock on the outside and shoves the doors to the barn open. The fading sunlight provides little illumination inside. Beth and him cautiously check the stalls and behind wooden beams for any signs of movement. Nothing turns up. It doesn't seem like anyone has been in the barn for a long time.

Daryl goes back over to the door and fiddles with the lock. He is able to switch it so that it locks from in the inside. He goes to tell Beth that they are safe for the night, expecting to see her behind him where she usually would be. When she is not there, he consequently becomes anxious.

He spots Beth climbing up a ladder to the loft in the back of the barn. "Hey, be careful," he hisses. He didn't check the upper part yet.

Beth stops midway up to give him a glare. "I will be. Jeez, you act like I've never killed a walker before. If there's on up here I'll get it."

"Ain't just walkers I'm worried 'bout."

Daryl finishes securing the door hastily so he can get to Beth. He checks the lock multiple times to be sure that it is safe, which it is.

Beth pokes her head over the edge of the loft when he is half way over to the ladder she used to get up there. "All clear," she whispers down to him. "Just a bunch of hay and other stuff."

Daryl slings his crossbow over his shoulder before heading up behind her. He gets up in time to see Beth collapse into a pile of hay that covers the loft.

"Feel at home," he questions.

"Yes," she lazily replies.

She looks beautiful, all sprawled out in the hay with a big grin on her face. It gets harder to resist her with every passing day. He doesn't know how much longer he can withstand the yearning for this girl. It's driving him insane.

Beth gets up into a sitting position and motions to him. "Come join me."

Well, it's not like he has anything better to do than unwind for the night.

When he gets closer he sees that a piece of hay gets stuck in Beth's hair when she sits up, causing Daryl to automatically reach up to the top of her head and pull it away, chucking it back into the rest of the pile. Beth is looking up at him with her big blue eyes. "Thanks," she says and goes about readjusting her hair.

Daryl scratches his chin, another nervous habit of his. He could visibly see the blush that creeps up on Beth's cheeks. "Uh, sure."

—

It truly is like Beth is back home again when she lies on the hay and it softly prickles her skin. Luckily for her, the sun burn from a few days ago has faded or this would be quite unpleasant.

She remembers how Maggie and her would often play in the stables and then in the barn when they were much younger. They would be out there in the barn for hours until they their father came and got them for dinner.

Thinking about dinner makes her aware of her rumbling stomach. She rummages through her bag and takes out a few jars along with water bottles they had refilled earlier. She hands a bottle over to Daryl. The both of them gulp down the liquid without stopping.

"So, peanut butter, grape jelly, or canned pears?" She asks Daryl when she finishes quenching her thirst.

Daryl turns up his nose. "I'm getting' real tired of this stuff."

"Too bad. Now which one?"

Daryl holds out his hand. "You know which one."

Beth hands over the jelly jar and a spoon to him. "Daryl, you can't live off of sweetened fruit spread," she points out.

"M'not fond of peanut butter."

Beth puts her hands up in the air, questioning him. "Then why did you take three jars of it from the cabin if you hate it so much?"

Daryl points his spoon at her. "Cuz you need the protein. Don't think I didn't see your ribs back by the river. You're getting' to be a skinny little thing. Can't be havin' that."

Beth blushes, looking down at her hands. What he said was true, her ribs were showing. They weren't overly protruding so she didn't view it as an issue.

"They always have," she lies.

"Bullshit."

It's impossible for her to lie to him. He sees right through her act. Instead of trying to convince him further that her ribcage has always been visible against her skin, she drops the subject.

Halfway through her peanut butter jar, Beth persuades Daryl into switching jars. She is under the impression that all he has been eating lately is the meat he hunted or jelly. "You need a more balance diet," she jokes with him while handing over her jar.

Beth tries to get comfortable after she is done eating. She keeps moving her legs around to keep them from stiffening up. Her legs are getting that sore feeling that sets in after a long and hard work out. Hiking through the woods for hours will do that a person.

She settles for accepting that she is going to have to stop moving her muscles and let them relax and recuperate. She proceeds over towards the medium sized window that is in the very back of the loft, not far from where she originally was. The moon in the sky was the only light coming through. The light was sufficient enough for them to move around without the fear of falling or bumping into anything. Not like there was much in the loft to begin with. A bunch of hay and a few tools were lying around.

A few feet from the window, she starts to move the hay so that it is more level, and then rests her body down onto it. This was way more cozy than the ground. The hay was warm against her skin, which is a good thing because it will help her muscles de-stress from a day of consistently using them.

Daryl sets his crossbow up against the window that Beth was looking out of so he can lie down next to her. He lies parallel to her, arm bending upward so that he can put it behind his head and stare at the barn ceiling.

"I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

Beth averts her eyes away from the window and up to the ceiling like Daryl was. "Tell me the truth. Do you really think we will find them?"

Daryl knows what she means. "We're gonna find Maggie and the others. Most of 'em must have gotten out," he utters confidently. "We'll find them. Everyone's probably spread out all over Georgia by now. It'll take some time."

Beth turns her head to the side so she is facing Daryl. "Think we'll stumble upon them one day?"

Daryl starts to meddle with the frayed ends of his shirt before he says, "It'll happen sooner or later."

For the first time Beth ruminates about what it would be like to be back with the group. They would all be together again and it would no longer be just Daryl and Beth. A hint of unhappiness jolts to the surface. She will miss having Daryl all to herself. She has enjoyed their time together, the two of them, way more that she would have ever anticipated.

"Tired of me yet?"

Daryl chuckles. "Nope."

Beth finds herself gazing at Daryl's mouth. She would really like to kiss him. Something inside of her is encouraging her to do just that. Before she has time to think it through, she bends over and crashes her lips against Daryl's.

He is surprised by her sudden advances. She notes that he doesn't push her away, taking it as a good sign.

She pulls back, pressing her lips together. Wow. The kiss had felt so _right. _

She searches Daryl's eyes for some sort of indication that he feels the same way. She sees the shock, and is otherwise expressionless. She immediately tries to recoil to lie back down, as if that would hide her embarrassment. Before she can, Daryl's hand finds its way to the back of her neck, pulling her back in.

This time it was less gentle, less of an innocence kiss. He kisses her back with urgency, in a way that Beth has never been kissed before.

She places her body so her torso presses against his chest. His warmth radiates into her. She puts her hand into the side of his hair, latching on as the kiss deepens. The hair on his chin tickles her but she doesn't mind at all.

Her mind was racing. Was this actually happening or had she fallen asleep and was now dreaming?

Daryl's hand travels from its spot behind her neck to around her shoulder, and down her collarbone. His thumb presses against the top buttons of her shirt. Her heart rate picks up as he does this. She feels his other hand press into the middle of her back, pressing her closer to him. A chill goes down her spine. A part of mind is screaming at her to remove her clothes.

Yes, she definitely wanted this.

She feels _alive_.

All of a sudden, his hand on her chest pushes her back, breaking the kiss.

He looks her in the eyes for a second before dropping them. He shrugs her off of him, leaving her confused. Daryl sits up, dragging his boots forward so it pulls his knees up and he can rest both his elbows on them. He puts one of his hands onto his forehead, closing his eyes.

"Sorry," Daryl mutters. "Shouldn't have done that."

Beth plays with a stray piece of straw. "Don't be like that."

"You don't know whatcha talkin' 'bout. Can't be doin' this, Beth. I'm twice—"

Daryl doesn't finish his sentence. He hangs his head, distraught.

Beth reaches for his hand, holding it tight so that he couldn't get out her grasp. "There's nothin' wrong about this," she informs him. She puts another hand onto his shoulder but he shies away from her touch. "You must feel it too. Or you wouldn't have done that. I-I have these…feelings. They came out of nowhere but I don't want to ignore them anymore. I can't."

_**A/N: A bit of a cliffhanger! I know, I know, most people HATE them (myself included). But it seemed like a good place to end the chapter. **_

_**Also, there was as hint in this chapter about what's to come. Did you pick up on it?  
**_

_** See you next chapter! **_


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl goes over what happened as he leans against one of the tall dark wooden beams in the loft. It is still dark outside but will only be that way for another hour or so. He didn't get much sleep so an hour earlier he settled for getting up any working through his thoughts. That was the reason behind him tossing and turning—the voice in his head wouldn't shut the hell up and let him have some peace and quiet.

Beth was asleep, curled into a ball on her side facing the window. No matter how many times he forces himself to look away and occupy himself elsewhere, his eyes wander back over to this girl.

He had replayed what had occurred between them over and over and over.

He was in a state of disbelief.

She had kissed him several hours ago. It was completely out of the blue. He was shocked when it happened, not sure if it was real. He should have stopped it right then and there. But no, he pulled her back in and kissed her back. He had lost all control. If Beth had known what he wanted to do to her right then she may not have been so forward with her actions.

The feeling of her small body against his was too much. It sent shock waves through him.

He hadn't had sex with a woman or even kissed one in years. _Years._ It sounds pretty fucking pathetic but it was true. Ever since the apocalypse started it had been Merle and him traveling around, trying to get to Atlanta. Then once he was with the group it was never a priority for him to be messing around with anyone. Especially someone he would have to see again every day. That wasn't his forte. One night stands when he was drunk were what he preferred.

And here was this innocent girl who was throwing herself at him. She was what anyone would call a dream girl, one that was off limits to men like him.

Her lips were so soft, so perfect and warm. He had lost himself once they were moving against his. Every reason to resist her had bubbled up to the surface and dissipated as soon as she placed those lips on him. He wanted her more than anything. Now he couldn't contain himself. Now he knew what he was missing out on.

He is moderately annoyed with her now. Annoyed for all the wrong reasons. Technically speaking, he should be annoyed with himself. She is lying there sleeping with pieces of hay in her hair and dirt on her clothes, and she is still so alluring to him.

He held back, he had to. Beth deserved better.

And he didn't deserve someone as good as her to begin with.

Beth was like a breath of fresh air that he had been in need of all his life. Now he was pushing her away because, truth be told, he was afraid. Not once has he ever felt so strongly for someone. What he felt was overwhelming, downright unnatural to him. He had never experienced what it was like to love someone or beloved by another. It made him vulnerable, which scares the shit out of him.

He wanted her. Damn it, he needed her.

He doesn't know what to do.

Daryl is dreading her waking up. He doesn't know what to say or how to act when she does. Beth did this to him. She made him nervous and unsure. No one has ever done that to him before.

His mind is going back and forth. He should really plan out what to say to her. Normally he would say whatever was on his mind, act out whenever he felt it, but not this time. This time was different.

Beth was too important to him for him to mess this up.

He couldn't afford to lose her.

She had revealed her inner feelings for him, which had been new to him. Again, no one has ever done that. She had said all these things to him like how she didn't care if he was thirty eight and she was eighteen. That age doesn't matter when you care about people. After a long speech on her part, she told him to sleep on it.

It was tempting.

All he had to do was give in.

But he didn't know _how_ to love someone. He had never fallen in love or met someone who he would actually want to be with. Love was never on the table for him. At least not until now. This girl had a hold on him. Beth was the first person to ever make him wonder what being in a loving relationship would be like.

There was this incredible possibility that was being dangled right in front of him. All he has to do is reach out and take it.

He is fearful about messing things up. Daryl had a way of doing that. If he were to take a leap of faith and let things happen with Beth, he would surely do something to screw himself over. Or worse, hurt Beth.

He is so entrenched in thought that he is oblivious to Beth waking up. He was also oblivious to how he had been pacing back and forth across the loft, creating a canyon in the hay.

"Daryl?" Beth's soft voice came into the silence, stopping him in his tracks. He is sure he looks like a deer in headlights. "What are you doin'?"

Shit. He was out of time.

'Nothin'."

Beth rubs her eyes before swiveling her neck from side to side to relieve any tension that formed overnight. She huffs as she gets up from her sleeping spot. "Did you sleep at all?"

He doesn't answer the question because it has an all too obvious answer. Instead he chooses to saunter back over to the beam he was previously against and lean his back into it. He doesn't do it because he wants space between the two of them, he does it because Beth is going to want to talk about what occurred between them. He feels too susceptible standing in the middle of the loft with those beautiful eyes staring at him.

"So," Beth starts with a mildly shaky tone to her voice. She takes three small steps towards him. "Do you wanna start or should I?"

Something in him takes over. He never understood the meaning of word vomit until this moment.

"Why would you want me, Beth? It don't make no sense! I ain't the lovey dovey type a guy. All that roses and chocolate shit. That ain't me."

Well, that was unexpected. Not at all what he wanted to say, yet it was the one thing that he couldn't wrap his brain around. Why did she want _him_? And out of all the fucking people she could have if she wanted.

"I know that. I don't care about that crap! All I need is you and everythin' will be fine."

He pauses. Sometimes he forgets that Beth knows him better than he thinks.

"I can think of a thousand reasons why this is a bad idea," he declares.

Beth moves over to him so she is standing in front of him. She shakes her head, a light smile growing on her face. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

Daryl bites the side of his lip. That wasn't his real fear. "I might hurt _you._"

"I don't believe that, so stop thinkin' of excuses. I want this, I want to be with you…and you want me to, I know it. Let's accept that and see how things go."

She was right. He couldn't go on making excuses.

Beth steps closer until she is inches away from him. Her fingers trail down the length of his jawline. He can't move at all. "Daryl," she whispers, pressing her body into him like she did hours ago. She is shorter than he is, having to get onto her toes so she is more level with his face. Beth is waiting for him to close the distance.

His mind clouds over by her touch. The idea that he shouldn't be doing this turns into _yes he should be doing this._

This will prove to be one of the defining moments in Daryl's life. It's the one where he chooses to let pure happiness into his life—to let Beth in.

So he takes the leap and closes the distance before he has a chance to back out and talk himself out of this. Beth's lips feel better than the first time. He can tell she is not too experienced, but then neither is he. Kissing on the mouth usually proved to be too intimate for him with someone he hardly knew during a one night stand. This time it's the opposite. He wants to kiss Beth for the rest of eternity.

How sappy is that?

He wraps his arm around her frame and draws her in. She gasps into his mouth and he resists a smirk. His other arm reaches up, his hand burying into her silky blonde hair. He tilts her head to the right so he can have better access to her lips. When the opportunity arises, he gently slides his tongue along her bottom lip, and Beth allows him entry.

It was heaven. Straight up heaven—with no pun intended.

Beth's hands are free, sweeping down his shirt, unbuttoning as they descend. He doesn't know how far this will go but he knows in his heart that he is not going to rush into having sex with her. Not with Beth. She deserves better than to be fucked in a barn for crying out loud. As much as he desires to tear her clothes off and press their bodies together into the hay, there is a part of him that says she is not ready for that.

Hopefully he has enough restraint left in him to stop when things get too heated. _Hopefully. _

Once all the buttons of his shirt are undone, Beth's palms press against his lower abs, her thumbs outlining the muscles. He keeps his hands where they are on her body, afraid that if he were to move them elsewhere, there would be no going back after that.

This is why when he feels Beth's hand descend lower, past his navel and beneath the fabric of his pants, his eyes open in a flash. Daryl clutches her wrist to extract it from below his belt.

It's Beth's turn to look like a deer in headlights.

"Did I do something wrong? I've never done something like that so I don't know what I'm doing." Beth's words come out so fast and shaky that it takes Daryl a second to reply.

"You didn't do nothin' wrong." Daryl draws a breath in. He looks around the barn and then back to Beth. "Here's not the place."

"But…I thought…don't you want—"

"Not here," he repeats.

Before he can continue explaining, something catches his attention out of the corner of his eye. Through the window he can see from where he was that there were four walkers heading in their direction.

He lets go of Beth's embrace, though it is one of the hardest things he has had to do in a long time, and marches over to the window to get a better view of them. Four walkers were dragging their legs right towards the barn. From the way the bushes at the edge of the woods were swaying there must be more coming their way.

He can't catch a break.

"We got company." He takes Beth's hand after retrieving his crossbow and backpack. They head down from the loft and they hit the barn floor with a thud. Daryl unlocks the door and gets them out before the walkers can get too close.

"There's more over there." Beth points to where Daryl had seen the outer shrubbery shaking. Five more walkers come out from among the trees.

Where the fuck do all of these things even come from? Did they have some sort of radar attached to them that found the living?

"We should get rid of these ones," Beth presumes, getting here knife ready. "It's the right thing to do."

Daryl agrees with it and the two of them put an end to the walkers. They were a team now. Daryl uses his crossbow to shoot an arrow into two the walkers while Beth's knife disappears into the rest of their skulls. The other five that are approaching are exceptionally slow. A fucking snail would probably move faster than them. He is not about to wait for them to drag their asses all the way over here and he is not going to go out of his way to kill them.

Daryl reaches out for Beth. "Come on, they ain't a threat."

They go off back into the woods in a run as daybreak sets up on the horizon.


	10. Chapter 10

There wasn't a lot of time to think about Daryl and what happened back in the barn. Shortly after leaving, they ran into a herd of walkers on a dirt hiking trail they were traveling on through the woods. Literally, Beth ran into one that snuck out from behind a tree at the last second when she had been glancing behind her, collapsing with it onto the ground. She had been running too fast and could not stop herself in time. She was taken aback by it, confused by how she managed to be so clumsy and throw herself into danger.

She did not have her knife in hand when it happened. The whole 'don't run with scissors in your hands' that she had been told as a child stuck with her and she was not about to run with anything sharp that could poke an eye out or plunge a hole into her heart. That would be an unfortunate way to die. Falling and stabbing herself with her own knife would be a terrible way to go in this world.

Luckily, she is able to hold the walker away from her long enough for Daryl to smash it over the head with his crossbow.

There are too many walkers surrounding them at once. They narrowly escape them, continuing to run through the woods, straying from the trail they were on and back into the heavily dense woods. Why did is seem that was all they did lately? Sleep, eat, walk through the woods, kill walkers, run from walkers, and then hit repeat the next day.

This routine was getting old.

After neither of them can physically run anymore, and Beth is astonished she lasts as long as she does, they fall onto the tall grass in an open field. Talk about déjà vu. They had done the same thing when they had first got away from the prison and a bunch of walkers had found them. They ran for what felt like hours before collapsing due to fatigue the first time. It was happening all over again.

Beth rests her hand over her heart because she is sure that it is about to come bursting out of her chest from beating so hard. Her legs hurt, scratch that, _everything_ hurts. Her lungs feel as if they are going to collapse out of spite for pushing herself too hard.

The both of them lie there, motionless and exhausted from their run, and unwilling to do anything but rest.

Beth is convinced that her arm moves on its own, shifting from being on her heart over to where Daryl's hand was in the soft grass. She brushes her hand over top of his, entwining her fingers into his. He responds by giving her hand a squeeze. They had been running for so long that she can feel his pulse through his fingers, beating at highly elevated level.

They stay like that for a long time. A very long time. She wouldn't be able to guess at the amount of time that has gone by if she wanted to. Time was an irrelevant factor nowadays.

A group of vultures begin circling in the sky, the sun high enough for the vultures to cast a shadow down onto them as they lie in the grass. She assumes they think they are dead, and she doesn't blame them. They were lying there in the hot sun in an open field, advertising that they were a meal. Not only to the vultures but to any flesh-eating beings.

Eventually her lungs no longer feel like they will burst into flames. The sting of being out in the open with the sun bearing down on her took over as a replacement.

Beth eagerly wants to talk about what happened in the barn and what it all meant to Daryl once her body physically recovers from the race escaping the walkers. But maybe they didn't need to talk about it in detail. Maybe Daryl was listening to her when she said they could see how things went. All she needs is confirmation of that.

"Are we gonna try this?" Beth blurts outs. "I mean, you and me?"

Her teeth clench together as she waits for an answer.

Daryl keeps his head firmly in place, staring up at the sky. The way he pauses makes her nervous until he says, "If you still want to."

If she still wants to? Was that serious? Of course she still wants to. There was nothing in the world that she wants more. Beth has never felt the way she does with Daryl with anyone else. Not with Jimmy and definitely not with Zach. Something about Daryl made her crazy, frustrated, nervous, and unsure. But it made her happy, all these emotions put together. No matter what was going on and how good or horrible things were, Daryl made her feel the safest she has ever felt. She was happy with him. That's what counts.

What she feels is consuming her and the need to express it is becoming more intense. The one thing she wants to do most of all kiss Daryl again, like she had in the barn. She misses his body being close to hers.

She rolls over onto her stomach so she can see Daryl to confirm what she asked her. "Yes, I most definitely want this."

She pushes her lips against his only for a few seconds before pulling away. She then rests her head onto his chest.

They would need to continue pushing forward while they had daylight. Beth wishes for a few more minutes like this with Daryl, in which she is granted.

—

After being in the dense woods, the trees begin to thin out and become more spread apart.

"Is that railroad tracks?" Beth questions as a clearing of a road ahead becomes closer and the trees no longer obstruct her view.

"Looks like it."

They keep walking, stumbling upon the railroad tracks Beth spotted moments ago. "Where do you think they lead to?" Beth inquires.

"Only one way to find out."

They continuously walk along the railroad tracks once arriving at them. Beth tries to keep her balance while walking on them to pass the time, which is proving to be more difficult than she initially thought. There are many times were she almost falls and catches herself before she does. A few times Daryl places his hand on her side to keep her from tipping over.

There is a more secure feel to being along the tracks. There were trees on both sides of them but the dirt road ahead with the tracks was wide enough that it made it easy to see everything that was in front of them or in back. They would be able to notice if any walkers were coming their way before it happened. Walkers or anything else that was wandering about.

From far back they could see there was a bend in the tracks. As they get closer, Beth picks up her pace, observing that there was some sort of writing on a sign that was off to the side. Once the map comes into full view, she stares at the sign like she has seen a ghost. There it was, written in blood, a symbol that her sister was alive along with her whereabouts.

**GLENN GO TO TERMINUS**

**-MAGGIE SASHA BOB**

Was she seeing things or was this actually written? Perhaps the sun was finally getting to her, giving her visual hallucinations.

She stands there in awe before she turns to Daryl to confirm what her eyes were showing her. By the expression on his face she assumes he sees it too. Her eyes were not betraying her. "She got out," Beth says even though it is blatantly obvious from Maggie's signature.

It was true. All her hoping and praying had paid off even though she had taken a break from the praying part these last few weeks. Maggie was alive somewhere this very moment. Sasha and Bob were as well.

She remembers Daryl telling her weeks ago, probably approaching more like months by now, how tracks in the mud meant that what she thought could have been Luke's or another prison member's footprints meant that they were alive four or five hours ago. It didn't necessarily mean that whosever footprints they belong to were still alive.

A hint of doubt enters her mind before she dismisses it. She refuses to believe that Maggie is dead, or any of the others for that matter. They would find Maggie with Bob and Sasha. They had to.

"It looks like we know where we're goin' now, don't it?" Daryl says after Beth stands looking at her sister's handwriting for longer than she should.

How could she not? Her sister was currently out there somewhere.

"How long ago do you think she wrote it?"

Daryl strides over to the sign to examine it, placing his fingers onto the words written in blood. "'Bout two weeks."

"How do you know?"

"The color of the blood is darker. The weather has been gettin' to it, wearin' the blood off. Means it's been here for at least over a week now."

Beth looks at the map further. "Then that means she's probably already at…_Terminus_." Beth's eyebrows furrow as she thinks about the name. It's quite an odd choice. "Doesn't sound too friendly."

"Nothin' is these days," Daryl remarks.

Beth is overwhelmed by the joy this has brought to her. There was a good chance she was going to see her sister very soon, sooner than she was expecting. She was looking forward to being able to hug Maggie and see Sasha and Bob. The idea of being reunited with them is a compelling one.

The map is not as clear as Beth would like it to be. She comes to the conclusion that it would be three or four days before they were able to reach this Terminus place.

Beth keeps this to herself, but she wonders why Maggie left a sign for Glenn and not her. Was it because Maggie believed Beth was already dead? That she never made it out of the prison to begin with because she was not like the other women? In all likelihood that was the impression Maggie had—that Beth had no chance of surviving after the prison fell.

She wasn't like that anymore. That weak and naïve girl was no longer her.

"We have a long way to go," Beth points out quietly. There were a few more hours of daylight left so they could get a good head start on the way to Terminus.

Daryl gives her a concerned expression. "You all right?"

As much as she would like to tell Daryl about what was bothering her, she doesn't. It didn't really matter anyways. She would see her sister soon and then she would ask her why she believed that Beth was dead. Then she would see how different Beth was. She hopes Maggie is proud. "Yes, I'm fine. Just anxious to see her is all."

Whether or not he believes her is hard to tell. Either way, he doesn't pursue her with questions.

"All right. We'll keep on this track till nightfall. Keep goin' in the morning."

Beth nods at the plan.

The sky transforms into a deep orange when the sun sets in the distance. The color is beautiful. It reminds her of how she could watch the sunset from her bedroom on the farm and Maggie would come in to watch it with her occasionally after they were done getting dinner ready. The sun was the same as it always was. The world looking back was the one that was distinctly different.

The thing about Beth is that she is an affectionate person. So when they are walking along the railroad tracks, she manages to unconsciously take Daryl's hand in hers. She leans into slightly as they walk. He doesn't flinch away or try to get out of her grasp.


	11. Chapter 11

**SANCTUARY FOR ALL COMMUNITY**

**FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARRIVE SURVIVE**

That was the saying that Daryl and Beth had passed by.

When Beth asks Daryl about it later he says he isn't sure about this Terminus place. Beth agrees with that. There was something strange about the way they were advertising. She wants to believe that it is another place to call home but is doubtful about that. It was highly improbable that was what they were going to be walking into. Nonetheless, it is their only option. Her sister indicated that she was there so that meant others from the prison could have made it there too.

There was a chance.

Beth needs to stop and rest her legs momentarily. They had been walking all day long in the heat. It wasn't as bad as before considering the humidity level dropped over night, but that didn't mean it wasn't slowing them down.

"C'mon we're almost there," Daryl encourages her.

_Almost there._

Beth starts running through all the things she wants to say to her sister. She doesn't know how to bring up Daryl. She knows that her sister won't have a problem with it. Beth had met a few of her old boyfriends during her rebellious stage. They were older than Maggie, not as significantly as Daryl was to Beth, but she should understand. Maggie had told her back at the prison right before the Governor showed up that she hoped one day Beth would find someone that made her happy in the way that Glenn made Maggie happy.

Well, she found someone and that just so happened to be Daryl. Maggie would be accepting of that.

There is an increasing amount of walkers that appear as they get closer. Daryl is able to get rid of most of them while Beth takes care of the rest. In the last mile that they walk there must have been around twelve walkers, way more than what they had been encountering the entire trip along the tracks.

It makes Daryl suspicious. Beth can't blame him for that. She can see by the way he looks at the dead walkers after extracting his arrow that he is questioning if they should keep going and take the risk. It makes her nervous. Why were so many walkers around all of a sudden? It had been pretty quiet up until this point with the exception of a few stragglers that were alone.

A burning smell in the air wafts around them as the wind picks up. Beth thinks she might gag as soon as the smell invades her nostrils. It's like nothing she has ever smelled before. It was sickening.

"What is _that_?" Her hand acts fast, covering her nose and mouth. It doesn't do much so she drops it when she figures out she can hold the contents of her stomach down.

Daryl doesn't respond to her.

They travel about a mile more until the view of Terminus comes into view. There is a tall fence that blocks the majority of it, guarded by unruly dark green vines. From what she can see there are high brick buildings past the fence. The nauseating smell has only gotten worse as they neared the place, and Beth isn't exactly ecstatic to see what is behind the barrier.

She cuts away some of the vines, sticking her fingers through the holes in the chain-linked fence to rip them away. Daryl does the same, only he doesn't need a knife to pull the vines away. Beth is envious of his strength. The way his muscles move and the way he grunts pulling them away distracts her briefly until there are enough vines gone from the fence that they can see though.

It's something out of a horror film.

A battle went down here. Not a fight between humans and walkers, it was between humans on both sides. The walkers must have showed but at the last minute or came after this was all done. This type of destruction was done by the living.

There were bodies littering the ground. Blood was painted onto the cement like a canvas. Some of remaining bodies were burned to a char with only blackened skeleton bones left over. From the way the skull looks with the jaw wide open it seems like they died in agony. Some bodies were severed half with internal organs lying around them. Walkers must have been munching on them. They were still there, keeping close to the food source, waiting for their bloated stomach's to go down to consume more.

Beth doesn't know how long it takes for a walker to become hungry again. She most certainly does not want to find out.

The sight is enough to make her want to throw up, let alone the repulsive smell that was lingering in the air. Beth has an eerie feeling about it. It was as if her nightmare came true, at least the explosion and fighting to the death part did at Terminus.

Everything was destroyed. Terminus was now crawling with over two dozen walkers.

"We should get outta here," Daryl leans in and advises. "While we can."

"What if—" She couldn't finish asking if Maggie had been there. She should go in and look to see if there was any sign of her sister. But did it really matter? If she had been there, she most certainly was not anymore. The image of her sister being eaten by a walker enters her brain, forcing her to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat.

Daryl pulls her away from the fence that she was clutching onto. "Listen, you know Maggie. If she were here…she found a way out. Our people always do."

Yes, that was what she was going to need to think. She was going to have to hold onto the theory that her sister made it out. She doesn't know if she was actually here at Terminus for sure, but either way she chooses to believe Daryl. After all, what other choice does she have?

Beth lets Daryl guide her back through the woods. The images of the slaughtered people and burned bodies are tough to get out. There was no unseeing that. There was no unseeing anything that this world had to offer.

"Where do we go now?" They had no destination anymore. There was no plan. "What should we do?"

She watches as Daryl calculates their next move. "Let's get away from here first, before we end up being dessert."

They don't go back the way they came. They make their way around the outer part of Terminus among the cover of the trees, avoiding most of the walkers that were strolling around. They do end up coming across one that looks to be chewing on a human arm. It was too preoccupied with eating to notice their presence.

Daryl lifts up his crossbow to take the shot before he glances over at Beth. He then lowers it, holding it out for Beth to take. "You know what to do," he murmurs low enough that the walker does not hear him.

Her heart skips a beat when she realizes what he wants her to do. Up until this point, Beth had not been able to effectively kill a walker by using the crossbow. She had come close a few times, shooting them in the head but missing the brain. The walker before her was, for the most part, stationary other than the swivel of his head to dig deeper into the flesh. This was why Daryl was choosing this as her target. It was a straight shot.

Beth watches her footing as she attempts to get nearer for better aim. She keeps her footing as inaudible to the walker as she can. Daryl steps with her until she is within a perfect aim. She holds up the crossbow and lines up where she wants the arrow to go. Daryl repositions her arm by moving her elbow down a bit, then relaxing her shoulder. His touch on her bare shoulder makes all of the nerves on her body stand on edge.

Growls come from the walker, low and menacing sounding as it enjoys the meal. It makes her sick. She doesn't feel bad when her finger presses down on the trigger and an arrow goes flying at it. Beth is astounded when the walker's head jolts backwards when the arrow plunges through the back and proceeds to slump forward from where it was standing and plummets to the ground face first.

When the disbelief wears off, Beth can't help but smirk at her accomplishment. She actually did it. She needed a little guiding from Daryl but she finally accomplished what she had set out to do weeks and weeks ago.

"That's my girl."

_His girl._ Beth could get used to that.

She gets up onto her toes and kisses him without even thinking after letting the crossbow fall to her sides. It's heavy for her to hold with one hand, but that doesn't stop her from throwing her other hand behind his neck. Daryl takes the crossbow from her once his arm snakes around her back.

The surrounding area is not very trusting so they let go of each other. It was painful to pull away but they manage to do so.

—

The evening cools down significantly as clouds roll in accompanied by a steady breeze blows through. Beth yanks her hairband out of her ponytail and lets her hair fall down onto her shoulders.

Daryl and Beth are heading north, not to anywhere in particular. They were going that way because Daryl finds some footprints heading away from Terminus. Or at least what are the remnants of footprints. It's difficult to tell how many people there were because the dust around them had started to settle and the wind was covering them up pretty good. Whoever they belong to, they were in a rush to get out fast. The footprints fall a few feet in front of other, meaning that they were running.

The dirt road they were on turns into a paved one that is a two lane road. It's empty, with no cars. The only thing on it other than Daryl and Beth are the faded double yellow lines down the middle. Some grass and other various weeds are coming up through the cracks in the pavement where the Earth was trying to reclaim what belonged to it. With civilization gone, Mother Nature was happily taking back what was hers.

Being out in the open like this was a little nerve-wracking. She was so used to the comfort and security that the woods provided that now being on a paved road made an uneasy feeling filter though her. Daryl doesn't think too much of it, though. If he wasn't too worried about it, then neither should she.

A rain drop hits her cheek once the clouds above become darker. In the far off distance she swears she can hear a rumble of thunder. Not a good sign at all. Beth was not looking forward to hanging out in the forest while a thunderstorm passed by. Lightening and trees were not exactly the best of friends.

By sheer luck Daryl spots a small town not too far when they reach the top of a hill the road was on.

_Good,_ she thinks. They would be able to find better shelter tonight.

There is a large plaque up ahead that Beth believes has the town name on it—one of those fancy small town signs telling you that you've now entered their town of about a couple hundred people and when it was settled. There looks to be graffiti on it from far back. When Beth recognizes that handwriting like she did before, she rushes forward to see for herself.

**Beth, Carol, Tyreese, Daryl**

**Head to Alexandria Safe-Zone **

Daryl and Beth stare at the names that follow the instructions. Most everyone was there, including some new names. Glenn, Maggie, Rick, Michonne, and everyone else. They were all alive.

"Oh my God."

_**A/N: Sorry if there are any mistakes. It is so late and I can barely keep my eyes open. I tried to edit but I'm sure there is something that I missed. I figure you all probably want to have this chapter now with a few errors rather than wait until next week since I'll be out of town. **_

_**Thanks for reading! **_


	12. Chapter 12

Beth doesn't let the swirling emotions of knowing that most of the people from the prison—her family—were safe and alive. She had to stay vigilant as they approach the town.

Daryl and Beth slip into town without any walkers noticing they were there. There are a few of the wandering around but they are able to carefully sneak past them. She follows Daryl to the closest building that is on the outskirts of town. Telling from the dilapidated sign out front, it's an old hardware shop. They go in through the backdoor after Beth finds a key hidden under a potted plant that was miraculously alive without people tending to it.

They manage to get inside and lock the door before the light mist turns into heavy raindrops. They stand there in silence waiting to hear some kind of noise from the shop. There was a sound of metal knocking together coming from the far corner of the store. Daryl's hand flies out behind him, touching Beth's side to move her behind him. They stealthily cross the room as Daryl checks down all the aisles. Beth keeps glancing behind her to make sure nothing was going to creep up behind them.

That kind of paranoia never left.

As they get closer the noise seizes. Tools along the wall are swinging back and forth. Something was here with them.

Beth's heart rate accelerates. It's too dark in the store for her to see what was going on. Daryl comes to a stop halfway down an aisle filled with hammers. Instinctively, Beth's grip around her knife tightens.

There is a shuffling noise coming from the aisle in front of them. Only the wall was separating them from what was on the other side. She is assuming it is a walker, but for the undead, they are strangely quiet.

Daryl looks over at her, signaling that he is about to make a move. He moves a hammer on the wall with the end of his crossbow, unwilling to take it out of an aiming position. The hammer clanks up against another one, and the shuffling sound from the other aisle resumes. Rounding the corner closest to Daryl, a walker was dragging itself towards them by its hands, the rest of its body flat on the ground. It must have lost the ability to walk after being stuck in the store for so long.

"Well, would you look at this," Daryl remarks in a mocking tone. The hungry walker heaves its body closer to them. Beth backs away, expecting Daryl to shoot it. "Damn bastard can't even get up to get us."

"Kill it already," Beth commands, keeping her voice low and soft.

Daryl puts the walker down and begins to walk away, grabbing her elbow to turn her around. "We'll cover it later."

Daryl looks around the store for anything that could be useful to them in the future now that the threat was out of the way. Beth sees a door up a flight of steps, thinking that it must be an apartment for whoever owned the hardware store. She ascends the stairs to check the door handle and it's locked, as she expected it to be. Her sudden disappearance causes Daryl to call out, "Beth?"

Right. And he was the one who always had to tell _her_ to not be so loud.

Beth travels back down the steps urgently, landing on the gray tile flooring. "I'm right here."

"Don't do that!" He scolds her, visibly worried. "Next time tell me where you're goin'."

"I will."

Beth thinks it's sweet that he cares enough about her to notice when she is gone for a few seconds.

She goes about searching for another key. There had to be one hidden like the one outside was. She opens up drawers by the cash register which is filled with a bunch of old batteries and pens. She feels around the inside of it and nothing turns up. The next one she tries is packed full with old paper receipts. Without adequate lightening it was difficult to see properly. When her fingers brush over top of a cool metal with jutted edges she knows she has found it. Removing the tape from the key that attaches it to the drawer, she holds it up to let Daryl know. "Found it."

Daryl is busy looking at some type of equipment and he doesn't hear her the first time so she has to repeat it a little louder, causing his head to snap up. "Not so loud, girl," he mutters before realizing his mistake.

Beth points to herself. "_Me?_ I'm sorry. Who was practically just screaming my name a minute ago?"

Daryl weakly grins at her and heads over to her. "Wasn't screamin'."

"Fine. Loudly shouting," she compromises, though it's basically the same thing.

"You just like to get under my skin, don't ya?"

"Maybe," she blushes. His question makes her wonder what he must look like under all his clothes. She really wants to find out.

Daryl takes the key from her and they head up the narrow stairs to the apartment above the store. Before Daryl can open the door, Beth rests her ear against the wood and listens for any movement. After no sounds come from beyond the door, she lets Daryl open it. Once inside, Beth glances around the room. It's a small apartment with all the necessary components—kitchen, living room, and two doors down a hallway. Whoever lived here did not care that much for wall décor or filling up empty spaces around the room.

From the looks of it, the place has been untouched for some time.

They go in and set down their stuff. Beth is about to start scavenging the place when she sees that Daryl appears to want to say something.

"You were right all along," Daryl starts. "All the way from the beginning." He must have recognize the confusion in her face because he then elaborated, "'Bout them bein' alive."

Beth offers a small smile. "I convinced you they were too," she points out.

"Yeah, but not till later. Didn't believe a word you said 'bout them bein' alive when we was in the woods after it all went down back there. You had faith from the beginning."

Something clicks in her head. It makes sense now, why he was saying this. "Do you feel guilty for that? Not believin'?"

Daryl drops his head, shrugging.

Beth moves over to him. "It's understandable, Daryl."

"I guess." He is quick to change the subject. "We should, uh, look around. See what this place has to offer."

"Sure."

They find that there are some cans in the kitchen, mostly beans and canned pears. It sounds like a gross combination, but hey, she was not about to be picky with what they were given.

Beth drifts into the only bedroom in the apartment. From the window she can see the trees swaying back and forth. The wind blew the leaves so that the bottom of them was blowing to the side, showing the lighter color underneath. Rain hits the leaves and they bounce towards the ground. She's not supposed to be near the windows since Daryl doesn't want to board them up. The noise of nailing them would attract walkers to their hiding place. So instead she pulls all of the curtains across so no one could see any movement from the upstairs.

Opposite of the bedroom there is a bathroom. Beth switches the faucet on and water that was ever so slightly warm comes spurting out due to air that was in the water pipe. It runs smoothly after the air bubbles are gone. Her eyes flash to the mirror in front of her. She hadn't realized how much dirt was on her face. In fact, there is dirt all over her, on her arms and down her chest. She cups her hands under the water and splashes some onto her face to try and get some of the dirt away. Once most of it was gone, she recognizes herself again.

"Hey," Daryl sighs as he leans against the bathroom door.

"Why didn't you tell me I'm so dirty?"

He shrugs on shoulder. "Didn't notice. But I found candles and a pack of matches so we won't be in the dark tonight."

"Great. I'm gonna try and get some of this off," she says, holding her arms straight out in front of her to observe the scrubbing that was going to be needed.

"Jump in the shower." Daryl nods over in its direction.

"You should go first."

He snorts. "You tryin' to tell me somethin'?"

"_No,_ it's just that that water is kinda warm so I figure since you're the one who—"

Before she can continue telling him that he is the one who deserves to have the warm water, Daryl tells her, "Get in," and then closes the bathroom door without giving her a choice, leaving her there facing the door.

"Guess that's settled," she murmurs to herself.

She grabs out a white towel from the closet that is next to the door. White, of course. They were going to be ruined by the time she was finished with them.

The knobs of the shower squeak as she turns them. Water comes jetting out, splashing the top part of her hair. Beth removes her clothes and before she gets into the shower, she analyzes herself in the mirror. She wonders if Daryl would like what she had to offer. There is a part of her that would like to open the door and invite him in with her but she is not brave enough to do that sort of thing. Not yet.

She jumps into the shower after finding a bottle of shampoo that was half filled with vanilla scent. It smells heavenly to her. She uses the bar of soap that is already in the shower after rinsing it off first, scrubbing her skin fiercely. When she sees a razor, Beth is almost ecstatic. She could finally shave off the extra layer of hair that was beginning to look like a fur coat on her legs. All of the dirt comes off, and she emerges from the shower feeling like a new woman. The feeling of cleanliness was not a privilege she has had lately.

When she leaves the bathroom to get another set of clothes, she finds Daryl looking out the window, holding one of his arrows in his hands.

"I thought you said to stay away from the windows."

His eyes are quick to scan over her body that was wrapped in a towel. "Just making sure we're the only ones around. From what I can see, we are, so…" he trails off, watching as Beth puts her arm around her stomach to clutch her side, choosing not to readjust her towel as it slips down dangerously low.

Daryl steps towards her, setting the arrow down onto the bed.

"The water is still warm, if you want."

Daryl nods but it seems like her words went through one ear and out the other. He is too busy examining her to care for showering. His thumb runs across her cheek and below her jawline. "Daryl," she falters. One step further and he wraps an arm around her back and he presses his body against her along with his lips. Right of the bat, she lets his tongue enter her mouth, relishing in the familiar feeling. She shifts her legs so that one of his falls between hers. She can feel him grab a fistful of the material covering her back as he presses into her harder. A soft moan escapes from her unintentionally when an electric feeling runs through every inch of her being.

She is waiting. Waiting for him to unhook her towel and let it fall to the floor, changing the fate of their relationship.

"You should get dressed," Daryl murmurs into her ear, pulling away from her so that he is no longer on her. The lack of contact frustrates her.

"Should I?"

Beth pulls him back to her, though she can feel the resistance.

Daryl's dark blue eyes met her lighter ones. She can see the desire in them and Daryl is trying to fight it. He reaches up, brushing his fingers through her damp hair. "You shouldn't say things like that. I don't have that much control when it comes to you."

"Good. Don't."

He kisses her again, rougher this time but not overwhelmingly.

"We should wait."

"Wait for what? I want you, Daryl."

This time Daryl lets go of her completely, stepping back until he is at the end of the bed and sits down, picking the arrow back up to mess with it.

"Is there something wrong with me?" she asks, not sure why he pulled away so suddenly. The image of her naked body in the mirror re-enters her mind. "Do you not want me? I know I'm not exactly a Victoria's Secret model."

"No, there's nothin' wrong with you. Of course I want you!" He says it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Every fiber in my body is tellin' me that it wants you. You've got not damn clue how much I want to…I just—I just don't wanna mess anythin' up, okay?" The confession comes out rushed and unplanned. "You're different. You ain't some drunk bitch who I picked up at a bar havin' met ten minutes ago to fuck and then leave after it's done. That's just…meaningless sex. Never had anythin' but that."

"You're not gonna mess anythin' up, Daryl. It's me and you, remember? Just the two of us. Forget about what happened in the past. Nothing is meaningless between us. I promise. I want you, and you want me. It's simple."

"Not as simple as you think."

"What does that mean?"

Daryl looks up from his arrow. "You ever done this before? Huh? Ever have sex?"

"No," Beth swallows.

"Exactly. It should be, I don't know, special or some shit like that. And don't you dare even think 'bout givin' me that line about 'it's special cuz it's with you'. We all know that's bullshit."

Beth huffs, but stands her ground even though she is secretly melting on the inside because Daryl wants her first time to be special. "But that's the truth. It will be because it's you. Listen, we can wait, I don't want to argue over my _virginity_." Ugh, the word sounds so childish. "I'm ready. I know I am."

Daryl begins to tap his foot on the floor, anxious. "I don't wanna get you pregnant."

She can't stop her eye roll. "Well, I sure as heck don't wanna _be _pregnant. There are plenty of ways to prevent that."

"I wanna do this right," he admits. "When the timing is right."

"You're so noble, Daryl." She says it sarcastically.

"I'm far from noble, Greene. I just can't do this with you. Not tonight. And it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do, believe me. It don't feel natural to be doing it here, in someone else's house and in someone else's bed."

"It's always gonna be someone else's house."

Daryl takes a moment, glancing around the room. "Maybe not always."

Images flash through her mind instantaneously. Images that Daryl put there. A house of their own somewhere in Alexandria. They would be together, happy. The fear of the outside world would dwindle away. A small part of her wants to swear at him for putting that image there. It was an unrealistic dream, at best.

Still, it was nice to think about, even the chances of it happening were slim.

"Yeah, maybe not always."

Daryl gets up from the bed and places a kiss on her forehead. "You smell like vanilla."

It was not what she was anticipating him to say. She was expecting him to argue with her more, but she guesses that he gave up. "Do you like it?"

"Mmhmm," he accepts, inhaling. "I think I'm gonna take that shower now. Before I change my mind about tonight."

It's hard to hide the disappointment. "Okay. I'll be here when you're done."

He puts a finger under her chin to make her look at him. "Listen, I ain't saying that it's never gonna happen. Hell, who knows how long can keep myself off of you. You're pretty damn hard to resist, you know that?" Beth offers a blushing smile in between his sentences. "And so damn determined to get in my pants."

Her mouth gapes. She then lightly hits him on the shoulder. "Daryl," she grumbles while yanking her towel up. "Now I don't want to sleep with you anymore."

"Sleepin' wasn't what you had planned," he jokes.

She playfully tries to shove him out of the bedroom. "Go take your shower!"

This was just like them, arguing one minute and then joking around the next. They switch between polar opposites.

She watches as he exits the room and goes into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. She occupies herself by throwing on a long loose shirt she found in the closet and turning down the bed. She gets in with just her bra, panties, and the shirt on. The sheets feel nice against her skin, but Daryl had felt better. She smiles into the cotton sheets thinking about him. From the bed, she refuses to close her eyes and let sleep claim her for the night. She waits for Daryl to come out so she can fall asleep with him next to her.

Daryl looks like a different person when his skin clean, hair damp but hanging messily on his neck. It's actually quite sexy. He notices her staring and gives her an all knowing look as if to say 'I know what you're thinking'. Beth pretends that she wasn't caught, sinking into the bed further and pulling the sheets up around her shoulders.

He looks at the bed for a second, probably contemplating if it were a good idea or not, and then to Beth who was waiting for him to get in. He is fully clothed, which bothers her.

Tugging at the end of his shirt, she asks, "Why don't you take that off?"

Daryl complies, shrugging off his vest and shirt. What? Had he been planning on sleeping in them?

Beth stifles a laugh, but apparently not very well. "What?" He asks when he gets under the sheets.

"No matter how many clothes you have on, Daryl Dixon, it's not going to keep me away from you. I still want you."


	13. Chapter 13

Nearly two weeks went by since leaving. They had crossed the Georgia border miles and miles ago with Georgia being nothing but a memory now. More than likely, they would never be back again. Daryl suspects they are somewhere in northern North Carolina by this point. They were staying off of major roads so they had no idea if they had passed into Virginia territory or not since they never saw a sign telling them they were entering the state.

As the sign for South Carolina had come into view a week and a half ago, Beth had nudged Daryl. "Can't say you've never been outta Georgia anymore," she had told him, excited that she got to share that with him. It probably didn't mean much to Daryl but it did to her.

They break into a few houses along the way, picking up supplies and resting when they can. The days drag out when all they do is walk. They have yet to see another living human being.

They do find two more signs from Maggie telling them where to go, but when they stray from the original path, any others that she may have written would go unseen by them. Maggie didn't forget about her after all. If anything, that was comforting. Any hurt she may have felt from her sister telling Glenn to go to Terminus and not her dwindled away into nothing.

After a while, exhaustion runs deep in their bones. Every day it was the same thing over again. As soon as the sun was up, they were heading north towards Alexandria. They kept going no matter what.

The weather was holding up so far, the heat no longer being extreme. In the past couple weeks it had cooled down significantly, autumn fast approaching.

They are walking up to a house in a small neighborhood when Beth sees the first signs of autumn. A golden yellow leaf was dangling on the end of a tree that was next to the house. The leaves changing was a symbol that her birthday had passed. Her late September birthday had come and gone without her knowing it.

"Hey, guess what? I'm nineteen now," Beth tells Daryl as they climb the steps of a white porch. Two wooden rocking chairs sway in the breeze, giving off a ghostly vibe.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yup. Another year and I'll be _twenty_. No longer a teenager," she states proudly. "Maybe then you won't be so hesitant about the—"she puts her hands up to do air quotes "—age thing."

Daryl only snorts and gives her a look as if to say 'that's not going to happen'. "Doubt that. By that point I'll be almost forty. I didn't stop aging, Beth. Remember?"

Beth huffs as they get the door open. "Then I guess you'll just have to get over it."

Daryl chuckles to himself as they make their way in the house. The inside has a musty smell to it, dark and suppressing. Little light is able to make its way through the thick curtains. They search high and low and don't come up with anything that they can use other than a map of the Eastern Seaboard that Beth takes from the drawers in the dining room.

Daryl wanders into the garage that was connected to the house, kicking in the door that separates the two since it was somehow locked from the inside. Beth follows him in, seeing that there was no other reason to remain in the house full of family pictures hanging on the walls and set up on end tables. It was too depressing to see people when they were once a happy, whole family. It didn't seem like there were any of those left in the world. Not one.

There are two cars in the garage, both black Hyundai SUVs. The first one Daryl checks is almost on empty but the second one farthest from the door has three-fourths of a tank of gas. "Jackpot."

"How many miles you think it gets per gallon?"

"Doesn't matter. It's enough to get us into Virginia."

Some relief washes over Beth. At least for a portion of the remaining part of their journey they would be able to not have to be on foot. It was getting to the point where the both of them were becoming worn out from all the miles they have traveled in the past two weeks. The boots she had on were wearing down fast, the thread at the heel of the boots beginning to become undone at the seam.

Beth searches for the keys to the SUV. It doesn't take her long to notice the key ring that is attached to the wall by the front door where it had gone unseen when they entered. She brings two sets of keys in, unsure of which one belongs to which. She begins to question whether it will turn on or not, considering it has been sitting stagnant for some time. However, Daryl starts up the engine with no problem and the SUV roars to life.

"Are we gonna stay here?" Beth inquires. It was dangerous to be staying in a neighborhood like this where they were surrounded by houses. High fences in the backyards would make an escape more difficult if they were to need to get out quickly.

"No, we're leavin' now."

"Now? Didn't we just get here?"

Daryl adjusts the mirrors in the car. He gets back out of the car and heads over to the garage door. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stickin' around long as walker bait." Daryl pulls at one of the handles that is attached to the garage, opening it so that sunlight came through. Beth puts up her hand to block the sun's rays. "Go on, get in so we can get outta here."

Beth makes her way over to the passenger side of the car and takes a seat on the light gray leather seats. The interior was clean, with nothing lying around, not even a receipt or a pen. The carpets were spotless, matching the gray seats. She sets her bag down by her feet before buckling her seat belt. It seems silly to do so; there was no one on the road. She does it anyway, and insists that Daryl does the same when he gets in.

Daryl doesn't waste anytime backing out of the driveway. In fact, he hits the gas in reverse so hard and unexpectedly that it jolts her forwards, the seat belt locking her into her seat before she can go any further. The seat belt was a good decision after all.

Once on the road, Beth spots five walkers coming towards the house they were at, with more coming from down the street. Daryl throws the car into drive and speeds away, her head hitting the back of the seat in the process. "Okay, speed demon, let's not give me a concussion," she complains when rubbing the back of her head.

"You'll be fine," Daryl concludes. "If you want I can slow down and we can let the walkers catch up."

Beth readjusts her seat belt so she can pull her legs up onto the seat and hug them into her chest. She can see the walkers becoming smaller in the side mirror as they drive in the opposite direction. "I'd rather not."

—

According to the map Beth has in her hands, they were in southern Virginia. From what she can tell, they have to be somewhere between Danville and Lynchburg, but closer in miles to Lynchburg. She had been directing Daryl to all of the back roads but sometimes it was unavoidable. Now she is trying not to get car sick from trying to read the map and calculate how many miles they had left to go. It is not working very well. The movement of the car combined with her trying to read was making her ill. The dizziness feeling takes over and forces her to put down the map.

"Take this road!" She had almost missed it, and then they would have been heading towards a major highway. Daryl slams on the brakes and veers off to the right just in time. "Sorry," she apologizes. "I'm a terrible GPS." Putting her hand on her head to make the throbbing feeling go away, she prays that the nausea stops. It would be a shame to throw up in such a spotless car. Not to mention embarrassing.

"Damn, girl. What am I gonna do with you?"

When the throbbing of her heads stops, she looks over at the gas level, it hovering at around and eighth of a tank. They had gotten far in way less time that it would have took if they were walking. The hours it took them to get here would have easily taken them days.

In the meantime, Beth had asked Daryl if he wanted her to drive. Considering that she never got her license, Daryl wasn't too keen on the idea. It's not like she has never driven a car before; she had driven before with Maggie back at the farm and on roads that were not busy. She was the one who was teaching her whenever Maggie had time. All that came to a stop when the apocalypse hit.

A motel is hidden away among the trees, the sign for it almost engulfed by leaves, propped up on the ground. Beth is able to spot the road to turn down and they head in. The road to get to the motel is about a mile long, full of rocks that make the SUV bounce unevenly, wildly kicking up dirt until they come to a halt when the motel is in front of them.

Beth hops down out of the SUV after grabbing her bag and moves around the front part of the car to get a look. There are a total of seven rooms at the motel, some of them missing the numbers on the front doors. The sides have some moss growing on them and dark stains down the outside walls. Plants grow up in between the wood panels along the walkway where the doors to each room are.

"Stay in the car," Daryl says once he gets a good look of the place.

"No," she protests. "I want to stay with you. You might need the help."

Daryl shakes his head. "Won't need the help. I need to know that you're safe."

"I'm safest when I'm with you," she reminds him, pointing out the truth. "I'm not leavin' you."

He gives in, not objecting to her presence. "Fine, we'll start in the office and work our way down."

The office is a dingy looking place, with gloomy paintings on the wall with some fishing equipment hung up. Papers are laid out everywhere, covering the desks with their yellowing tint to them. There is a window in the back that is broken due to a tree branch growing in. It looks like a set of a horror film. But then again, the world now pretty much is its own horror story.

"This place gives me the creeps," she mutters while looking for any sign of walkers.

"Wouldn't be surprised if some there's some old lady in a rocking chair around the corner who was the victim of taxidermy. You know, like some Norman Bates shit," Daryl replies to her comment. "Or dozens of bones hidden in the walls."

Beth turns up her nose. Yes, that was exactly the image she wants in her head right now. "Thanks for that."

Daryl smirks, grabbing a bunch of keys in his hand and showing them off. "No problem. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The idea of sitting in the car was all of a sudden becoming more enticing.

When the first door to room number one opens, Beth is anticipating it to be in the worst shape possible. Something bad had to be lurking behind these doors. Rats crawling on the floor with dead bodies in the bathroom and maggots eating them kind of bad. Surely there would be something appalling. When there is not, she is amazed. They weren't the best looking rooms but it was nothing like she imagined.

They clear six rooms until coming to last one. "Lucky number seven," she boasts with false enthusiasm.

"Ain't so lucky," he retorts. Daryl shuts the door before she can see what he was referring to.

"What?"

"Looks like someone decided that there was no better place to put a gun in his mouth."

"Oh."

"Don't worry. Whoever it was, they're mostly a skeleton by now. Could only tell from the stain on the back wall and the gun on the floor."

Too much information. "Looks like room number one is the winner for tonight. I don't want to sleep anywhere near a corpse." Beth turns back around on her heels and heads to the room she wants with Daryl close behind her.

When they settle in for the night, Beth spreads out the map out on the queen sized bed. Considering the land markings, they must be fairly close to Lynchburg, only a few miles out from the city. It's hard to tell but it seems to her that there is approximately two hundred more miles until Alexandria. They were so close. She takes a pen out from the nightstand and draws the route they would need to take to steer clear of the highways. Hopefully they could make it past Lynchburg before the gas ran out.

Daryl is standing by a desk that was in the corner of the room setting his crossbow down onto it. Beth watches him from the bed where she was on top of the poorly chosen multicolored comforter. There was something about Daryl that made her want to stare at him all day, and she would be completely content with doing just that. His toned muscles flex as he stretches, shirt hiking up so that it reveals his abs. The sight of his skin makes her go into a daze.

She wants him, more than ever before. She wants him right now.

Daryl catches her. For some reason the look of desire in his eyes makes her understand that the feeling is mutual.

_**A/N: Alright, everyone! I'm planning on keeping this story around sixteen chapters so there are only three more to go! There are so many ideas floating around in my head about what to write next.  
**_

_**But guess what's next? The smut chapter, that's what. I know you've all been secretly waiting for it ;) **_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: From the reviews in the last chapter I can tell you all are really looking forward to this. I don't know if this actually needs a warning or not but this chapter is pure smut. I hope it turned out alright (fingers crossed).**_

_**And also, something is up with my laptop's letter 'r' so if there are any words in here that are lacking an 'r' it's because my laptop randomly decided to be evil to me. I tried to fill them all in but I may have missed some.**_

_**Okay, I'll stop rambling now.  
**_

_**Enjoy! ;)**_

Beth stands at the side of the bed after getting up. She sees Daryl swallow hard as his eyes glaze over her body. There is a brief moment where she notices that there is hesitation as his own body tenses up, freezing in place the same moment he looks at hers.

Beth doesn't make any movement towards him. She wants him to come to her.

Daryl drops his gaze to the floor before stepping over to Beth. He stands right in front of her, hands rubbing into the material of the pants he has on. Good. At least she wasn't the only one of the two who was anxious about this.

Her hands find their way to his vest, which she nervously pulls down off his shoulders and he shrugs off the rest of it, letting it drop to the floor. His lips are on hers next, sweet and gentle. Daryl's large hands pull at the hem of her shirt. She breaks the kiss, allowing him to pull it up and over her head once she puts her arms straight up in the air. The shirt falls to the floor next to his vest.

She is standing there with only her plain white bra covering her top half. She should feel self-conscious about this, but doesn't. Daryl makes her feel so comfortable that it doesn't bother her.

Beth tilts her head forward to kiss him again. Daryl's hands cup her face as his tongue outlines her bottom lip. His palms drop from her face and spread across her neck, his hands then spreading out to flatten against her collarbones. They trail down to feel the curve of her breasts that were padded by her bra. She leans into him, causing his hands to snake around her ribs and onto the small of her back.

Daryl takes a step forward so it pushes her into the edge of the bed, making her begin to fall backwards onto it. Daryl puts his hand out, one still on her back, and the other flat on the bed to keep her steady as they lean back. As soon as her back hits the comforter, she spreads her legs to accompany Daryl between them. He pulls the comforter back with one tug, picking her up an inch away from the bed so it disappears at the bottom of the bed and she is against the sheets.

She unbuttons his shirt with eager hands and pushes it off like she did with his vest. The feeling of his skin up against hers makes her heart flutter with anticipation. Butterflies relentlessly assault her stomach.

Daryl moves his lips from hers and onto her neck. She lightly brushes her lower jaw against his cheek as he sucks on the delicate skin of her neck. Her leg hitches over his, using it to pull him in closer. A shaky breath falls from her mouth when she feels the pressure against his pants pushing into her leg.

Daryl undoes the button on her jeans, pulling down the zipper, and that is when she realizes that this is actually going to happen. There was no going back.

Her fingertips graze over his chest and abs when Daryl gets on his knees to remove her jeans. He pulls them down without a hitch, throwing them onto the ground with the growing pile of clothing items. She is quick to sit up and latch onto the belt buckle he has on, removing that and tossing it to the floor without seeing where it goes.

She gets brave while undoing his pants button. She stops, glancing up at him, his eyes staring wildly back at her with fierce desire. She moves her head forward and presses her lips against his stomach, outlining his muscles with her tongue. Beth breathes in the smell of his skin as she kisses along his abs. She progresses further down to the start of his V line, placing kisses wherever she can get them. Daryl moans in delight. She smiles against his skin, a tiny giggle escaping from her. She was satisfied that she could make him feel good by doing something so simple.

Daryl reaches down to pull Beth's head away, once again cupping her face. "You sure you want this?"

"Never wanted anything more."

With that, Beth helps Daryl yank down his pants so he is left in boxer briefs that are tight on his skin. He kicks them off the rest of the way. Beth blinks at all the new skin that was revealed. Her heat rate accelerates into a dangerous level knowing there was only a few layers of material left between them.

Now she was entering uncharted territory for sure.

As he moves to climb back on top of her, his fingers skim her legs and her outer thighs, making her squirm beneath him. Daryl's hands are hot on her skin. And maybe it's just her but the room temperature seems to have gone up a good ten degrees. He puts his hand under one of her thighs, fingertips pressing into her inner thigh, bringing it back up around his hip when he lies on top of her.

She can feel all of him. Everything. Part of her is freaking out on the inside due to overactive nerves and the other part is loving the feeling of the new experience.

Her fingers press into his back, feeling the indentation of his scars as her hands run down his warm skin. He doesn't flinch away or seem to care all that much that she is brushing up against what he tried so hard to keep a secret for so long, ashamed about his past. It was not a concern anymore of whether she saw them or touched them; they were a part of Daryl. He was safe with Beth; there was no need to hide from anything.

Goosebumps ran up her arms as Daryl feels for the clasp on the back of her bra. He fumbles with it for a few seconds and she is about to help him get it off when he unhooks it, tossing off the side of the bed. His hand immediately goes to the exposed skin, palming her breasts. His mouth follows, his tongue tracing around her nipple. The hair on his chin tickles her chest in the process. It's an amazing feeling that sends shock waves through her.

She thinks he must be able to hear her heat beating inside her chest. There was no way he could not.

Daryl was hard against her inner thigh. All of her attention was going to that one place that he was slowly rubbing up against. As his tongue traces around her breast, her back arches up. She then moves her hips up to press into Daryl and her thighs rub against his erection. He moans another time against her skin, this time more drawn out.

Her panties are the next thing to go, the last of her clothes. Daryl feels down her sides until he reaches the band around the top. He pulls them down her thighs, getting of his knees again, and then removes them off of her completely. He takes a minute to look at her. Beth feels like she needs to cover up. A man has never seen her naked before. Yet, she resists the urge to cover herself with her arms. Instead, she uses them to tug Daryl's boxer brief's down once she props herself up on her elbows. She rids him of them and Beth lies back down on the pillow to look at his nude body, just as he does to her.

She stares at him at him wide-eyed once he is as naked as she is. Like how a man has never seen her naked before, she has never seen a man naked before, at least not in the flesh. It's arousing to see Daryl. He is so handsome, so manly. His desire for her is evident from how hard he is.

Beth reaches for him, clutching onto his strong arms. She gasps when he is back on top of her. There is nothing between them. It was skin on skin. Her body tingles wherever Daryl touches her.

His dick massages into her inner thigh, warm and teasing her as Daryl continues to kiss her on the lips, their tongues finding their way into each others mouths. Instinctively, her hand travels down between them and she begins to stroke Daryl. He hisses with satisfaction, which tells her that what she is doing it right. He breaks their intimate kiss to push himself further into her hand as he rests his forehead on hers, unable to focus on anything but the pleasure she was giving him.

She feels the wetness growing in between her legs. "I'm ready, Daryl," she is able to say. "Need you."

She is looking at him. The ends of his hair was sticking to his face, sweaty. She finds it overly sexy and makes no attempt to remove them. He was perfect like this.

Daryl leans over the side of the bed and digs around in the bag, still plastered on her body. She is confused by this until he brings out a condom wrapper. "Took it from the house we got the car from. I thought, ya know, just in case."

"Good thinkin'," she remarks, glad that one of them was thinking about protection.

Daryl rips open the package with his teeth, slipping his hand down between them to roll the condom on, letting out a low grunt. He throws his hand into her blonde hair, putting the other one onto her hip. He positions himself at her entrance while Beth sucks in a deep breath in an attempt to relax herself. Daryl's dark blue eyes burn into her, asking for permission. She nods to indicate him that this was what she wants, what she needs.

Beth steadies her hands on Daryl's shoulder blades, digging her palms into them. He pushes into her slowly, and _damn_ does it hurt. It's not in the way she expects it to hurt though. The burning sensation forces her to bite down on her lip and shut her eyes tight. It's uncomfortable, yes, but it's not unbearable. Daryl stays as still as possible, waiting for her to adjust to the new intrusion. The pain decreases as the moments pass until she lets go of a breath that she was not aware she was holding. The feeling of him inside of her becomes more natural. She can feel him throbbing inside of her walls. "Move," she whispers to him, telling him that she is ready.

Daryl goes slow at first, aware that it wasn't going to be the most pleasurable feeling for Beth. He pulls half way out until he thrusts back inside of her. Beth's nails dig into his back as he thrusts in and out. After a few of those, he pulls out almost all the way before burying himself inside of her again. It's a strange, foreign feeling when he first starts. But the twinge of pain stops as he continues and a very different sensation takes over, one she cannot place.

The way Daryl moves and the moans he makes as he approaches his climax drives Beth wild. She was doing this to him. She's not exactly sure where she is supposed to put her hands because she has never done this. She settles for keeping her left hand resting on his backside and the other she hooks around the back of his neck.

The room becomes even hotter to her as the friction between them turns rapid. Her body feels like it's on fire as her breathing goes shallow. Daryl keeps going, thrusting into her with rhythm. He kisses her on the lips, their kiss sloppy and wet.

Daryl's breathing becomes unsteady, his movements faster and harder as he rocks into her. His grip in her hair tightens, his hand gabbing a fistful of her hair. It doesn't hurt her at all. She knows he must be close.

"Beth," he moans, coming undone.

He doesn't pull out of her right away. His body relaxes when he lowers all of his weight onto Beth and pushes her even further into the mattress. Daryl is breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling up against hers. He situates his face into her neck and she can feel the breaths leaving his mouth. Beth shoves her fingers into his hair.

Her head turns to the side. "I'm in love you," she admits.

Daryl picks up his head so he can look at her, his eyes pouring into hers. His fingers brush away a few strands of golden hair away from her face. "I love you. You're the only one I've ever loved."

_**A/N: I hope that was good because I am a little apprehensive about posting this!**_

_**I wanted to keep it realistic. And realistically speaking, it's not that common for a lot of woman to orgasm their first time. Believe me, I compared notes with all my female friends before I wrote this (a strange and long conversation that turned into). So, yeah, there's that. Just thought I would point that out before someone questions me on why Beth did not have one. **_


	15. Chapter 15

Morning comes too soon. Beth wakes up to the sensation of Daryl's arm around her holding her in place with her bare back against his chest. As silently as possible, she shifts herself so that she is facing him and his arm remains undisturbed around her. He was sleeping peacefully, worn out from the sex last night. She can't believe it actually happened. Never would she have believed it if someone had told her she would lose her virginity to Daryl Dixon or fall completely and madly in love with him. But here she was in that very situation.

He loves her, too.

The thought alone makes her heart beat faster. She was truly happy. Even in the apocalypse love was possible to find after all.

She watches Daryl for a couple minutes, relishing in her happiness. When he stirs, she closes her eyes and feigns sleep so he wouldn't know she was already awake, so that way maybe they could stay like this for a little while longer.

"Beth, I know you're not asleep."

She smiles widely when she's caught. Her blue eyes open to see Daryl's. "Hi, there."

"Hey," he greets sleepily. His hand runs along the side of her ribcage. "How do you feel?"

That was a good question. Physically, she feels a bit sore but nothing that she couldn't handle. Emotionally, she was feeling wonderful. Walking on cloud nine kind of thing. "Perfect."

"Good," he says. "We should be gettin' on the road soon."

She scoots her body closer and rests her head underneath his. "I know. A few more minutes, then we'll leave."

—

The last leg of the journey takes the longest, or at least that's what it seems like. Beth is anxious to see her sister, if they can find her. They have come across multiple signs for the Alexandria safe-zone once they hit the outskirts of the city, which took them five days to get to once they were walking the rest of the way. It is nerve-wracking being this close to a major city. Where there are major cities, there is guaranteed to be herds of walkers since clusters of people turned at the same time, gathering in groups to attack their victims more efficiently. The strength in numbers did not just apply to the living, but also to the dead flesh eaters.

It gets pitch dark once they get to Alexandria. Daryl and Beth hide out in a townhouse they break into, waiting for the sun to come up so they can get to the safe-zone.

Sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her, Beth asks, "What do you think it will be like there?"

Daryl is sitting next to her in a similar position a few inches from her, crossbow on his lap with his hands on top of it. He leans his head onto the wall behind them, staring up towards the dull white ceiling. "I don't know. For our sake, hopefully a place like the prison was. Safe."

"I hope Maggie is there. And everyone else. Maybe Tyreese and Carol saw the sign back in Georgia and are there, or at least on their way here. That would be nice. And Judith, too. God, I hope she's safe. Maybe she's there." Beth sighs and puts her head onto Daryl's shoulder. "Am I being too optimistic? I feel like I'm settin' myself up for inevitable disappointment."

"One of my favorite things about you is your optimism. Always so willin' to believe in the good."

They are quiet for a while. Daryl and Beth are not planning on going to sleep here, it wasn't safe enough to fall asleep. The both of them need to be awake and alert. However, waiting for the sun to come up was like having to watch a clock, the time always seemingly going slower when there was focus on it.

Beth looks around the townhouse they were in. It was stripped bare of almost everything. A few furniture pieces were tossed around on their sides and a couple paintings of Paris were on the walls, crooked and looking like they were going to be falling off soon if something were to knock the wall they were on. Since the outside was made of brick and was probably once a very charming exterior, she assumes that all together this was a beautiful home. It was sad to see it so run down.

"I need to ask you something before it eats me up on the inside," Daryl abruptly tells her.

She picks her head up off his shoulder to peer over at him but he is still gazing blankly at the ceiling, reluctant to meet her eyes. "What is it?"

"When we get there, let's say hypothetically that everyone is there, and your sister is there. What's she gonna say about _us_? It's stupid, I know, but I don't wanna walk in there and Maggie have a fit because I've had my hands all over her sister. I wanna know what I'm walking into."

"Don't worry about it," Beth replies, trying to calm his thoughts. It was nice he was thinking about how her sister was going to react, but it was unnecessary. "You love me and I love you. That is what is gonna matter to her the most. I know my sister. She'll be happy that I have you. Yeah, she might be a little skeptical at first but she will understand."

Daryl nods, her words putting him more at ease.

"It'll be weird having it be not the two of us anymore," she relays the thought that has been on her mind lately. "Been like this for so long now. I've gotten used to it being the two of us."

"It'll still be us."

"Nothin' will change?"

Daryl sucks in a deep breath before letting it go. "Everything will change. But in a good way. I guess."

Time ticks away and Beth begins to get impatient. Sitting in silence staring at the boring white walls was not her idea of a good time. An idea pops into her head, one that she should not be entertaining but is anyways. What harm could it do?

Beth takes Daryl's crossbow and sets it down on the other side of him, then swings one leg over Daryl so that she straddles him. The surprise is evident on his face, but he replaces it with a mischievous grin.

"What do you think you're doin'?"

"Hmm, I don't know," she innocently whispers.

Without warning, she pulls her shirt over her head and sets it next to her. Leaning in, she catches his lips in hers. She is impatient about it, her lips moving frantically, knowing exactly what she wants. Daryl's hands run up her back and settle on her hips. He scoops her up and sets her down onto the cool wooden floor. It doesn't take them long to shed all of their clothes. They really shouldn't be doing this here because any noise could attract a walker.

But why stop when it feels so good?

"Daryl," Beth sighs, feeling she is almost out of breath. Her thighs clench around Daryl's hips as he thrusts into her. Her body moves with him. Her nails paw at the skin of his back as Daryl digs his hands into her thighs. Her body moves back and forth against the hardwood floor as he continues to push inside of her, her hair spreading out onto the floor before Daryl removes his hand from her hip and grabs her hair.

Her breath hitches in her throat after she lets out a moan she wasn't expecting. Daryl responses by doing the same, thrusting in harder a few more time before they climax together. Her legs feel like liquid, shaky but still clutching on Daryl's hips as he settles his weight onto her.

Yes, that was a much better way to pass the time.

—

It's still somewhat dark out, the sun just about to rise over the horizon as they get up and move to the front of the townhouse to slip out the door. The smallest amount of light sheds onto the city, enough for them to see where they are going. Beth exits first, going down the front steps and onto the sidewalk. A figure comes out from behind another townhouse's front steps and spooks her.

Daryl automatically trains his crossbow on the figure. "Don't shoot," it says, letting them know they were human.

Daryl lowers the crossbow only a fraction until they get closer and see a man in his late twenties holding a rifle at his side. He has on clean clothes, with a black backpack strapped onto his back. Two more are behind him with the same attire on, men in their thirties, smiling nicely at them with their weapons at their sides. They look friendly enough, but that didn't mean anything.

"Welcome to Alexandria," he greets them, keeping his voice low and not too loud. "Are you here for the safe-zone or still heading north?"

Beth glances back at Daryl and back to the man who was speaking to her. "Safe-zone. We're actually tryin' to find some people that might be here."

"Where are you two from? You sound like you're coming from the south. And who are you looking for? I've been at the safe-zone for a year and a half now so I know most of the newcomers."

For a second she almost doesn't tell him who it was they were looking for. They didn't know these men. And trust isn't something that Beth is willing to throw out to anyone these days. But there isn't much of a choice. Maybe she should put faith in these people and pray it doesn't backfire.

"Well, there's my sister. Her name is Maggie—"

"Wait a minute, don't tell me," the young man interrupts her. A grin forms on his face so wide that it looks like it might break his face into two. "It's Greene, right? Are you Beth?"

When he says her name, she relaxes. "Yes!"

The man keeps smiling at her and Daryl. "Well I'll be damned." He turns his attention over to Daryl, pointing his finger at him. "So does that make you Daryl?"

He lowers his crossbow all the way and nods at the man who knew who they were. "That's me." It was a good sign. No, a _great_ sign.

"A lot of people are going to be happy to see you folks. Come with me, I'll personally show you how to get there. It's easy to get lost in these streets." The man motions for the two of them to come with him. He turns to the other men and says, "I'll be back out later once I drop off these two. You keep an eye out."

She wants to ask what he is telling them to keep an eye out for but assumes he means walkers. He begins to walk in the opposite direction as the men, going back the way he came. Daryl and Beth exchange a look before she weakly shrugs her shoulders and strides forwards to keep up with him.

"So my sister is okay?" she asks him. Beth needs to hear him say it.

He nods his head. "Oh, she's fine. Told us all about what happened to you folks in Georgia. Sounded real nasty, at least that place with the weird name did. Good thing their group, well I guess it's your group too, found us. We were beginning to think no one else was a alive but the people already living in the safe-zone." He pauses and shakes his head. "Sorry, I've been awfully rude. I've yet to introduce myself. Name's Damien."

He holds out his hand for Daryl, who takes it after looking at it for a second, relieving Beth because she was beginning to think that him being so quiet was indicating that something was wrong. Beth shakes his hand as well and they start walking back down a street with another row of townhouses.

"Well, you already know our names," Daryl tells Damien.

"That's true. I know a lot about you folks. Your friends never shut up about you. Have I mentioned that I'm really glad to have found you two? Your friends have been real worried about you making it here. Especially your sister. She's been walking around with this guy, guessing you know him, Glenn, with this sullen look on her face waiting for you to get here. She asks me every day to keep looking for you while I'm out. But don't worry once you get behind the wall, you'll be safe."

Glenn. He was alive. Another person she would get to see again.

They walk for some more blocks, making turns left and right and weaving throughout streets that are littered with old abandoned houses and some vacant stores. Damien is strangely relaxed for them being out in the open like this in a city. He keeps his eyes peeled, checking down the alleyways they pass, but is in no position to shoot if a walker were to show up out of the blue. When Daryl questions him about it, he tells them that they have a bunch of guys, including himself, that go out before sunset and mornings to search the streets to get rid of any walkers that have appeared in the hours they are absent from the area. Apparently they have it down to a system now, rotating schedules. They've cleaned out most all of the houses in the surrounding area to make sure that there was no living or dead inside.

They go a few more blocks before a wall comes into view. It partially reminds her of the prison and the fences with barbed wire that protected them from the outside. There are two young men sitting on the top looking over with a rifle on each of their laps, both looking on as they walk up.

"Hey, where did you find these people?" One of them asks Damien.

"They kind of found me. But guess what?" He gestures to them. "This is Beth and Daryl."

The boy on the ledge takes his baseball cap off his head. "No way."

"Damn near didn't believe it myself," Damien remarks to the boy. "I guess Rick was right when he said they were fighters. Now open the gate so they can see their family."

The boy leans back over the edge and yells to someone to open the gate.

"Just to let you know, you'll need to be checked for bites and scratches first. It's a kind of rule we have here, just to keep people as safe as we can control. Everyone who goes out needs to be checked when they come back in. Nothing too intrusive, I promise."

Beth grabs Daryl's free hand with hers. She thinks that she might be in shock from Damien saying they were going to see their family. She had been waiting for this moment for a long time now, and so had Daryl.

When the gate was open, the three of them walk inside before it was shut behind them. Beth stands still, taking in the new view. There were a few rows of houses on streets, gardens with green plants growing, four horses who were fenced in to an area off to the side along with other farm type animals, and men who were working on a structure in the opposite corner. It looks like a community.

"This is what's technically left of Alexandria," Damien affirms. "But it works for us."

Beth hasn't seen so many alive human beings in one place at the same time. Women were busy outside working, washing clothes and gardening, transporting items from one house to the next. A small group of young children run past them with a ball. As they walk, everyone looks up at them to examine the newcomers of their community, all with smiling faces. They all seem so warm and welcoming with no hint of malice being evident.

Her eyes are looking for familiar faces among the people when a woman comes up to Beth who has long black hair in a braid to the side. "This is my wonderful girlfriend Amelia," Damien states. "She can help you navigate around if you need it."

Amelia greets her by hugging her, giving her a tight squeeze. "Nice to meet you both."

Amelia checks her for any bites or scratches while Damien does the same to Daryl as he explains who they are to his girlfriend. When they are all clear, they continue walking down a street with Amelia after Damien says his goodbyes and rushes off to get back to the men he left in the streets. Amelia talks to them about the community they have and all of the odds and ends of it but Beth is only half listening. She is mostly looking for Maggie, her or anyone that she would recognize from the prison.

Daryl squeezes her hand and all of them come to an abrupt stop. She's not sure why until another voice comes from the side of a house they were stopping in front of.

"Beth?" Her name comes out of nowhere by a familiar voice that she has known all her life. Her body twists in the direction it came from, her eyes searching for the person the voice belongs to. Maggie is standing there, her face twisting with emotion. Tears build in her eyes, spilling over. "It's you. You're here."

Whatever she was holding in her arms falls to the ground and she rushes over to Beth. Reluctantly, she lets go of Daryl's hand to embrace her sister. Maggie grabs onto her so hard that Beth isn't sure if she was ever going to let go of her. Nonetheless, she is overcome with joy. "You saw my message! You both did!"

Her eyes meet with Daryl's as Maggie hugs her. He is watching them cry over each other while smiling.

_**A/N: Next chapter is the last chapter! **_


	16. Chapter 16

Life in Alexandria was easy. Everyone had certain jobs to do and they stuck with their routines. They had been there for four years now. Four years without any deaths, not one. It was some sort of miracle, really. The members of the community thrived as long as they were within the walls of Alexandria.

Sometimes there were threats to their survival but they got taken care of when everyone worked together. They all had each other's backs.

Rick took over the role of leader a few months after Daryl and Beth arrived. People thought that he would be the best person to look to and to make the tough decisions. Everyone fell into the roles they were used to. Daryl joined the set of men who went out to clear the surrounding streets of walkers and to look for anyone else who might have found their way here. Every morning he would kiss her before leaving, and every morning she prayed for his safe return. He always did come back to her though. There had been a few close calls, but that didn't stop Daryl from going past the wall of Alexandria, and she didn't expect it to. However, it did make him insist that Beth not leave unless she was with him.

Daryl was still Daryl, and he would still go out into the woods that was a few miles out on occasion and hunt with a few other men who would go with him and were hunters as well, always bringing back plenty of meat. Some things don't change.

But sometimes things do.

Maggie was pregnant with Glenn's child, seven months pregnant to be exact. They hadn't planned it but it would all work out. Beth was going to be an aunt in several months' time, and she was more than excited about it. Judith would have someone to look after as they both grew up. She and Carol had actually arrived two weeks after Daryl and Beth did, relaying to them the sad news about Mika and Lizzie, and then how Tyreese sacrificed his life to save Carol and Judith on their way to Alexandria.

Daryl had told her about why Rick banished Carol from the prison in the first place, but all of that seemed to be forgotten when she arrived with his child safely.

The community expanded and they acquired two more streets with houses after a dozen more people entered, rebuilding part of the wall. Beth and Daryl got their own house once that happened, which was good because Daryl never felt completely comfortable living with Glenn and Maggie like they had been before. Glenn and Maggie would need the space once they were parents, so Daryl and Beth were more than willing to leave.

Maggie had been more accepting of their relationship than Beth would have ever thought. She didn't ask for too many details other than was Beth sure Daryl loved her. There was no question in her mind about that. What Daryl and Beth shared was real.

"I love you," she says to him one night when they are in bed.

The windows are open and the fall air comes blowing through the window.

"You know I love you."

Beth brushes the hair out of his face. She had trimmed it just a few short weeks ago and it was already growing back fast. Daryl insisted on keeping it a bit longer because winter was approaching. Alexandria got colder than it ever did in Georgia. That was one of the hardest things to adjust to when they arrived.

"I like hearing you say it," she admits.

Daryl rolls on top of her, causing her to giggle. She knows where this is going. "I love you," he whispers again, this time into her neck. He repeats the words over and over until all of their clothes are gone and thrown haphazardly onto the floor.

He presses his body against hers like they have done so many times over. Beth puts both hands onto Daryl's cheeks, stroking them with admiration. His eyes are wonderful to look into. "You know what Maggie asked me the other day?"

"What?"

"When I was gonna make her an aunt," she hints, pressing her lips together.

"Oh, really?" She moans in response, feeling Daryl's length hard on her thigh. He kisses her neck and she lets her mouth gape open, holding back another moan as he pushes against her more.

It's something they've talked about here and there, but it was never a really serious conversation. Having a child? That sounded so scary in this world, and Beth finally understood the hesitation Lori felt when she found out she was pregnant so many years ago. But it was different here. They were sheltered from the outside world and the thought of having a child was not a horrible one. A number of women in their community had younger children when they had arrived, and a handful more had given birth since then.

After all, she always did want to be a mother, and there was no doubt in her mind that Daryl would be a great father.

"Is that what you want?"

Beth considers it for a moment. "Only if it's what _you_ want."

"What I want is for you to be happy."

"I am happy. You make me happy," she tells him truthfully.

Daryl brings himself up so his arms are propped up by his elbows. "And a baby would make you even happier? That what you're sayin'?"

Beth blushes and hides the side of her face into the pillow. "Maybe. It's safe here and I know I'm ready, but it's up to you if you want to. I don't want to pressure you into—"

He stops her by kissing her lips, hands traveling down to her waist. "I think we can make than happen."

Beth meets his eyes. "Yeah?"

Daryl shoves one hand under the pillow her head was on, keeping the other on her waist. "Well, we're halfway there already," he smirks, referring to them being naked.

She lifts her head up to kiss him. It's passionate and hot, the room spinning as the rub into each other, hands crawling all over each other's skin like they couldn't get enough of one another. Daryl finally gives up with teasing her and pushes inside of her, without a condom, to her surprise. She was not expecting them to start trying right this second, but then again, Daryl was never one to like to waste time.

—

Long into the night, Beth is still awake, pondering what it would be like to have children, her own children. They would play in the streets with the others, and grow up with Maggie's. She would shield them from the horrors that went on outside of the community, but would still make sure they knew how to defend themselves, God forbid anything bad were to happen. Then, when they were older she would tell them about the struggles their family went through when the outbreak happened and expose them to what happens outside of the Alexandria safe-zone.

It would all be okay. She would have Daryl by her side the whole time.

Daryl must have been awake too, because he throws an arm around Beth and holds her tight. "I love you," he whispers into her ear.

She knows they will be just fine, no matter what happens.

_**A/N: So I'm a sucker for a happy ending so that's the way I wrote it. I kept it short and sweet. But this was the hardest chapter to write! It was more of a wrap up of the storyline. I figure why not just let Daryl and Beth be happy :)  
**_

_**Anyways, I decided on an AU prison fic next (Bethyl, of course) so if you like stories set in the prison go check out the first chapter of the one I posted today! I'm really excited about it. **_

_**And finally, thank you for all the reviews. I'm so grateful to have such amazing people reading this story! You all are awesome. **_


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